The Akatsuki from KSUH
by Celtic Water Spirit
Summary: It's been three years since their days at Konoha-Suna Union High and the Akatsuki are still stopping crime and enemies from the shadows. While some members are beginning to settle down in their lives, there is a charge in the air that can mean only one thing. War. They have to stop it before that happens. Somehow. Itachi/OC, Sasori/OC, sequel to "Konoha-Suna Union High", semi-AU.
1. After Three Years

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 1: After Three Years

They were surrounded. The Akatsuki were the only ones who knew about the looming threat and had put themselves into action as soon as they found all the clues. What they didn't know, was that the enemies' target was not only the Ninja Villages but, in fact, the Akatsuki. It was a set up and they walked right into it.

All that mattered when the battle got this severe, was survival. Being split up into their usual teams, each took a location to defend against the massive numbers that were sent after them. Even though it turned out that they were the first target, each of them still had something they wanted to protect. They could not let the enemy get past them. If they managed to survive, they could win. Sometimes that is easier said than done.

Blood leaked from Itachi's eyes as he used his Susanoo. The dark demon-like aura that surrounded and protected him from attacks also took its toll on the user. Ever since his arms were broken earlier in the battle, Itachi had to place the enemy under genjutsu in the Tsukuyomi and take them down that way. Unfortunately, his chakra is not unlimited and all the jutsu he was holding constant were taking their toll on him.

If the number of opponents appeared to be decreasing at all, he wouldn't be worrying much, however, that was not the case. The dull throbbing in his arms from the broken bones and the blood dripping past his fingertips only reminded him further of his situation. Without the use of his arms, he would have to solely rely on his eyes.

Itachi glanced at Kisame, who seemed to be holding his own despite harboring a few of his own wounds. It would be bad if Itachi had to protect someone else right now. The blood leaking from his eyes was proof enough that he was already pushing his limits and straining his Sharingan. He would have never guessed this would happen.

"How did this happen?" Itachi whispered to himself, just before the Susanoo roared and blocked another wave of attacks on him. The time for pondering was not now.

On the backside of an old brick building that long ago served as the Northern Outpost, Deidara and Sasori were taking cover as several explosions sounded from the other side of the building.

"I told you to bring more clay!" Sasori gritted, "I thought you said you knew what you were doing!"

Deidara whipped around for a moment to glare at the red-headed puppet master. "How was I supposed to know they would also have a bomb specialist? They're hurling those things out of a canon or something, I can't tell where they're coming from or where they are!"

"You better find out fast, I've already lost two of my puppets to guard against those things!" Sasori retorted.

Deidara was about to comment when they had to shield themselves from another explosion and flying debris. Sasori used his puppets to act as shields while Deidara ducked down and worked up his clay in the pouches that hung at his hips.

Sasori released some chakra strings from a few now useless parts of his puppet, not wanting to waste energy trying to put it back together in the midst of the chaos. He wasn't so sure he'd get the chance to put his precious creations back to together afterwards either.

Sasori's eyes flicked around, trying to locate the next incoming bomb, when he heard a whistle of one coming from above. Quickly, Sasori looked at Deidara, who was still trying to create an decent offense with what was left of his clay. With no time to warn his companion, Sasori tackled Deidara to the ground and shielded them both from the explosion that landed right on top of them, destroying both the landscape and the building that served as cover, while burying them in the debris.

From beneath the rubble, Sasori was able to lift a good amount off of him and his companion using his puppet and chakra strings. There, among the rubble, Sasori saw the image of chaos around them on the battlefield. There was no one else around and everything had happened so quickly. They weren't prepared for something like this.

"How did this happen?" Sasori muttered to himself and then winced painfully before dropping to his knees and collapsing in freshly spilled blood.

"Sasori!" Deidara called out to him while kneeling next to him. "Oh man, this doesn't look good…"

Sasori wasn't sure what Deidara was talking about, all he knew was there was a pain in his chest and he suddenly felt like his life force was leaving him, leaving him weak and unable to support his legs any longer. He didn't know what happened. Was all this blood coming from him? It's so warm. Was he wounded? Is it fatal? Was he going to die here?

* * *

The birds chirped to each other as Itachi, Shisui, and Sasuke entered the home of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha. This spring had been quite warm and the summer season was soon approaching. The boys entered the kitchen and took seats around the table when Mikoto came in and smiled at them.

"How did your search go, Itachi?" she asked, standing behind Sasuke to place a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke was apparently too old and cool for hugs from his mother, so she would do that instead.

Itachi simply shook his head. "Didn't find it," he said, "I looked in three different shops and they all had basically the same thing, which wasn't what I was looking for."

"You don't even know what you're looking for," Sasuke sighed.

"I said I'd know it when I see it," Itachi said and Shisui chuckled.

"Don't worry Itachi, you'll probably find the perfect engagement ring when you're not even looking anymore like I did," Shisui said.

"That better be soon, I actually want to have the ring when I propose," Itachi groaned.

Sasuke looked at his mother, "I suggested he propose with flowers and take her to pick out a ring afterwards, but he doesn't want to do that either," he told her.

Mikoto smiled and began to leave the kitchen, "I'm going to check on something," she told them.

"Well sorry for not being able to help much, Itachi," Shisui apologized.

"It's fine, your suggestions were helpful, I just didn't find it," Itachi smiled before standing to pour himself and the others some tea at the kitchen counter.

That's right, Itachi was planning on proposing to his girlfriend of three years, Suki Yukimura. Much happened in the last three years since he and his friends graduated from Konoha-Suna Union High School. Shortly after graduating, Itachi left Konoha for about a year for special and rigorous training so he could work for the Uchiha Family Police Force. He passed all his tests and was now quickly moving up the ranks. He had only got to see Suki when he completed his training and returned to his home in Konoha. Things were a little slow starting again, after being apart so long with little communication available, but they were an item again quickly, and were still seeing each other.

Itachi and his father were on much better terms now. They weren't best friends or anything, but they did have a better, more understanding relationship and at work treat each other professionally and try not to step on each other's toes on the job. They still have their disagreements, but they are both able to agree to disagree much easier now.

Itachi still lived with Shisui most of the time, though he would often stay at Suki's place too. Itachi was also looking at buying a house for him and Suki soon since Shisui just got married and was moving into a bigger house with his wife. In the meantime, Itachi was welcome to live with his girlfriend. Moving in with Suki was still gradual, but they didn't want to feel any pressure or overwhelmed by taking a serious step in their relationship. This was only one of the many reasons Itachi felt ready to marry Suki, so far they were living well together, and they were likely to feel just as comfortable when he's officially moved in with her. If that wasn't a sure good sign, he didn't know what would be. Also, even with a busy schedule, he simply liked the thought of going home to her everyday.

The Akatsuki were still working, and Itachi was a double agent who relayed info to the Akatsuki from what he learned in the Police. It really worked both ways though, as he's used the information he gets from the Akatsuki to help out the Police station as well, and make sure the bad guys were put behind bars. Pain was okay with it, as long nothing bad became of it, and he trusted Itachi's judgment. It actually worked in everyone's favor since these were very peaceful times thanks to Itachi's efficiency in his work as a double agent. He had already received a few rewards and a metal for his work and success for capturing some of the worst criminals. Since he didn't do it alone, he was quite humble about it and had turned down two promotions, feeling he didn't really deserve them because of his double agent work and he didn't want to take the credit and reap the benefits that the Akatsuki as a whole deserved. If it wasn't for his friends and his girlfriend knowing of his double life, he wouldn't be able to live it. Luckily, he had all the support he needed at home with the person he wished to always go home to; Suki.

Suki was also an agent for the Akatsuki, but she was now working in the Konoha Information Center, where all reports and requests go through. Anything that might be useful to the Akatsuki, she would relay back to them, usually suspicious activity, crime, personnel, and if anyone is suspecting the real identities of the Akatsuki or where they're located. Itachi was glad that Suki had a low risk job, something where she isn't likely to get hurt. He wasn't sure how Sasori dealt with the fact his own girlfriend goes off on dangerous missions all the time.

As Itachi finished his tea, his mother returned to the kitchen. "Itachi, take a look at this," she offered.

"At what, Mom?" he asked, but she only smiled and came to his side and placed an open engagement ring box in front of him. Itachi knew right away, it was exactly what he was looking for. "Mom?" he asked after a couple short seconds.

"This was my mother-in-law's, then it was mine when Fugaku purposed to me, and his mother wished that I would one day give it to one of my sons to get engaged with," she explained as she took a seat at the table. "Since you wanted to find a ring, I forgot about offering this one, but… what do you think of an heirloom?"

"Can I?" Itachi looked at the ring again, almost afraid to touch it and ruin its perfection.

"Only if it's the ring you want Itachi, I'd be happy if you gave it to Suki, and I know your father would be too," she nodded.

"Thanks, it's perfect," he smiled.

"Wait," Sasuke started with a hard look directed at his brother. "You dragged us all over Konoha to a bunch of girly jewelers, and your 'perfect ring' was right here this whole time?"

Itachi and Shisui chuckled. "Guess so, bro," Itachi grinned and poked Sasuke's forehead with his two fingers, "I'm sorry, Sasuke," he added, somehow knowing that when it comes time for Sasuke to get married, Sasuke would get his payback.

Sasuke's shoulders dropped. "Whatever, at least it's over now," he said.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke," Shisui started with a catty smirk. "Don't forget about what's going to happen when she says 'yes', the next step is wedding plans," he winked.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to have to help with that too, am I? I mean, isn't that the bride's job?"

"Sure, the planning is up to the couple, but we still get to help them," Shisui grinned. "Remember _my_ wedding, you should, it wasn't that long ago?"

Sasuke remembered. He wouldn't be forgetting about all the stuff he was asked to carry and deliver. Then he had to be super charming to every family member at the reception to make a good impression. The worst part was all the times someone pinched his cheek for being 'cute' despite that fact he was going to be entering high school at KSUH in the fall. Sometimes he hated being the youngest Uchiha of his generation.

"Psh, whatever, I have stuff to do," Sasuke said, excusing himself and then muttering profanities as he quickly left.

Itachi sighed with a smile, holding in a comment about Sasuke being a prick in front of their mother. "So Father gave this to you?" Itachi inquired to his mother.

She nodded with a soft smile. "Yes, when he proposed, but now it's time to pass it on."

Itachi closed the box and held it. "Are you sure?" he asked his mother.

Both Mikoto and Shisui chuckled softly. "Very," she answered.

"What, Itachi? Having second thoughts?" Shisui teased.

"Nah," Itachi brushed it off. "Now I just have to wait until I can ask her," he said.

"A bit nerve wracking, isn't it?" Shisui laughed. Itachi didn't say anything, but just smiled and nodded. Everyone close to him knew that he was planning on proposing soon, and he was well aware that it had got at least a couple of his friend thinking, one being Sasori who had also been dating the same person for the last three years. Itachi wondered if Sasori would ever do something like he was about to do and get ready to tie the knot. Sasori hasn't said anything about it to him, but if Itachi knew his friend, that didn't mean he wasn't thinking about it.

"Uncle," Sasori said from across the table in his grand uncle's home. "What do you think?"

His uncle continued to ponder Sasori's dilemma. "The fact that you are able to ask yourself those questions proves it, my boy," he said.

Sasori frowned, "I thought you might say something like that, but I want your advice, Uncle."

"Have you spoken to your Grandmother about this?"

"Hell no," Sasori stated instantly, causing the older man to laugh.

"You still talk to her since you moved out, right?"

"Of course, but this isn't something I could go to her about," Sasori said. "Uncle, please."

"You're always so unsure of yourself when it comes to these matters, but you've been making the right decisions along the way, haven't you?"

"I guess, that doesn't mean I haven't messed up––or almost messed up," he said softly.

The older man thought for a moment and then placed something in front of Sasori, who looked at him questioningly. "That's in case you decide, your grandmother knew you would be asking me about this sooner or later, so she's had me hold onto that for when you did," he chuckled.

Sasori sighed. "Thank you," he said before standing up. "I must go now, I have work to do," he explained.

"Of course, and good luck," he waved.

Sasori thought deeply during his fifteen minute walk home. After graduating high school, his first goal was to move out of his grandmother's house as soon as he could afford. He ended up getting a place with a large garage, prefect for his work, with a small townhouse above it. Since it was just him living there, it was perfect. His home's location being built into the side of a hill made for a great view of the park and the sunrise from both his bedroom and living room.

As for his work and need for a large, private work space, Sasori was now a part of a joint faction to work on new poisons, weapons, and antidotes, as well as metals and plastics that can stand up to some of the poisons so they don't destroy their weapons, just the enemy. He found he liked being able to work at home like he does, being a very private person, and as long as he produced results and reported everything he was doing, he was free to work on whatever he wanted. Of course, he didn't document _everything_ he was doing, some of it being secret projects for the Akatsuki.

Not bothering to use the stairs once he got home, he unlocked the garage and lifted the large door to his work space, filling it with sunlight. He noted the odd stench from both the metal and wood oils as well as other chemicals he used, so it was time to air out the place anyway.

Since he was going to air out the place, he couldn't actually work on much, so he grabbed a broom to start sweeping up the dust and debris from his woodwork. There was more than he thought. Took him nearly a full hour just to sweep off the surfaces and floor before he started sweeping outside the garage and the walkway leading to the stairs of his front door.

When he completed his task, he put the broom away in one of the storage closets of the garage. With a sigh, he closed the closet door when a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Looks pretty good," she said.

"Huh?" Sasori looked over to find Raven, his girlfriend, standing just outside the open garage. He smiled and motioned her over to him. "You're back early," he said, drawing her close for a quick hug.

She nodded as he held her hands for a moment longer. "The assassination was called off," she said. Raven goes on assassination missions as a sniper sometimes, but those jobs are few and far between. While on those missions, she gets to try the new poisons from Sasori's lab. Usually, she works as an interrogator, working closely with Ibiki, and does the jobs where they want a woman to try, especially if children were involved since kids feel more comfortable around a young woman compared to a big scarred man. Sometime after graduation, she had left for about a year for special training on those jobs. Whenever there's times she's low on work, she still trains ninja cats at home. Sasori left the village several times during that period, searching for new information and components for his various jobs. His travels took him all over the map, but once he was with Raven again when she returned, he tended to like being home more often.

"So what's up? Come to spend some alone time with your boyfriend?" he teased, swinging their hands between them.

"Nope," she said straight-faced, but he continued to smile at her, knowing there was more. "We're going to go meet the others, Suki's got news," she added.

"Right now?"

"That's what they said, they also said that they tried calling you, but since you didn't answer, meaning you were either out or down here," she said.

"They were right," he said. "So where to?"

"The usual place," she said.

"Know what this is about?" he asked her when they left the garage and he closed it up.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"You'll see when we get there," she winked. Sasori wondered if Itachi finally proposed. Seemed a likely possibility. If that was the case, he thought he should prepare himself for a party or something that would result in a hangover.

As they reached the Akatsuki's meeting place in the back room of a nail salon, they were met with greetings from the rest.

"Alright, so now that everyone's here," Suki started from her place resting on Itachi's lap, "I can tell you all my news!"

Sasori raised an eyebrow, noticing that there was no ring on her finger and that Itachi seemed just as confused.

"I got promoted!" Suki cheered. "That means I'll have access to higher class information all the way up to Sector S," she said.

"That's great, Suki," Itachi hugged her while the others also congratulated her. Sasori chuckled, thinking how wrong he had been on what this was all about.

Pain seemed quite pleased about the news and approached Suki to shake her hand, congratulate, and personally thank her for the work she's been doing for him.

"Let's break out the drinks!" Hidan cheered. He liked any reason to celebrate and have fun. Sasori chucked to himself again, thinking about how right he was on that part of this get together.

It took Sasori a moment longer to realize that everyone was here for once. Over the past few years, everyone had been traveling, training, and working. It seemed that with everything settling down in a routine, that they were able to get together again after so much time. It was nice. Not that Sasori appreciated all of his friends' antics sometimes, but the fact that everyone was here and well was a good sign. Things were looking up, not just for them, but for the village as well.

"Things are looking up, aren't they," Raven smiled to him.

"My thoughts exactly," he chuckled. Even after three years, they seemed to be on the same wavelength. Sasori looked back up at Itachi and Suki, he was spinning her around as Deidara put on some music and Hidan and Tobi got out some champagne they had stashed there. Yeah, things were looking pretty good around here. Sasori smiled at that thought as he gently clutched the item his uncle gave him which was still in his pocket. Then he looked at Raven and pulled her closer to him so she was leaning on him. Yes, things were good right now, and he planned for it to get even better very soon.

* * *

Far away, not a single alarm sounded as security guards in a high security prison dropped like flies. One body of a guard was dragged into the darkness and a snake slithered out and along the now empty halls.

"Good work," the snake whispered. "Have you acquired what I have asked for?"

A pair a silent footsteps stepped out of the shadows and a cloaked man bowed to the snake. "Yes, and I have also gained some very… interesting information that will help us and get the upper hand on the ones that betrayed you."

"Excellent," the snake whispered. "They will pay for my sufferingsss… four yearsss, they will pay dearly for those yearsss… and for ruining my plansss," it hissed.

"Of course, my lord," the cloaked man smirked. "Everything is prepared for you, please come."

"Yesss," the snake grinned.

* * *

**Author's Note**

This was mostly an introduction chapter, with some teaser to prove that, yes, this story was planned out beforehand while also getting us caught up of the events of the three years between this story and it's prequel "Konoha-Suna Union High", which you don't have to read first if you don't want to since it's nearly 80,000 words. Whatever from the last story that is important for this one is mentioned in this story, though it is recommended if you are willing.

So how are they going to end up in a terrible battle from at the beginning of this chapter? Will Itachi propose soon? What is Sasori thinking about doing? Who is the cloaked man and the snake? How bad of a hangover will their party result in (_kidding_)?

SOMETHING TO NOTE: Tobi is just Tobi in this story… not Mandra, Obito, Sasuke from the future, or an evil spirit-thing, heck, he's not even really a villain because this story is not about him or team 7 and the demons. And it's especially not about Sasuke, so no "wah my clan was killed so I hate the world" for him. It's was about a Ninja high school, and now what happens after that high school.

I do my best to keep everyone in-character as much as I can for this AU. While writing these Akatsuki stories, I realized that we don't know much about Sasori's personality, or how Itachi used to be around his friends and comrades. I tried to work with what we were shown, and it's up to you to decide if it's acceptable and believable.


	2. New Bonds

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 2: New Bonds

Darkness perfectly enveloped the cavern. Several voices murmured to each other, some in questioning, and others simply in idle conversation. Everyday a few more people would join them in the darkness to wait. They were being gathered from far and wide. Each were allied to one person, the same person, and that is why they cooperated peacefully for now. None knew why exactly they were all being brought here yet. Only some were bold enough to ask.

"I've been here for days!" a masculine voice groaned loudly above the other voices. "Why are we here, tell us already!" he demanded. The other voices quickly began to murmur in agreement.

After only a few seconds, the voices grew louder, bolder, and more demanding. The cavern would soon be in an uproar if someone didn't answer.

"Silenccce!" a sinister voice hissed. "I will answer your questionsss," the voice hissed as his command was heard. "Kabuto…"

"Yes Master," the cloaked figure of Kabuto became illuminated by a couple torches on either side of him at the deepest part of the cavern. His glasses glared brightly against the light, appearing as two glowing orbs. "You have been gathered here for a reason," an intelligent voice began. "You are here to be offered an opportunity, my master, your master, asks that you join him, to rise up once again as the Sound."

Some voices murmured again, talking about how they thought Sound was disbanded over a few years ago and how they thought they would never hear from the leader of Sound again since he was in prison.

"I know what you're thinking, and yes, he is no longer in prison," Kabuto continued. "He let himself out, and is back to work and will continue to peruse his goals. If you are no longer available or don't want to help him, you are free to leave now, but know that if you chose to stay," Kabuto's glasses flickered in the light, "you are devoting yourself and pledging your loyalty once again to our master and his cause, there will be no going back, and no tolerance for treachery," he finished darkly. No one moved and Kabuto's glasses flickered again. "You may leave now if you wish," he said as if it wasn't clear.

Again, no one moved until one cloaked man stepped forward in the silence. "We're in," he grinned darkly, and the murmurs began once again in agreement.

"Excellent," Kabuto smirked. "Your loyalty will surely be rewarded. Soon you will all briefed of your mission, the master only asks for a little more patients," he finished before disappearing into the darkness.

"Very good, Kabuto," said the same hissing from before, but this time the snake slipped out from under Kabuto's cloak around his neck to sit across his shoulders.

"Sir, if you don't mind my mentioning, I believe I have found a flaw in your plans from before," Kabuto started respectfully.

"I know what you are going to say, Kabuto," he hissed quietly, "I know I can no longer set my sights on Itachi and his body, so he will be destroyed by my hand and I will aim for a younger, less experienced host instead, one that can't fight against me like Itachi did."

"Sasuke." It wasn't a question.

"Yesss, Sssasuke will be my new host," then he flicked out his long tongue as he hissed.

"Very well, my lord," Kabuto agreed. "First we will get rid of the Akatsuki and Itachi, conquer the Leaf, then we will retrieve your new host before it's too late," he said and received no answer. Kabuto knew that might take up too much time, by the time they defeat Itachi, it might be too late to take on a new host. "Sir, if I may be so bold, if things don't go according to plan… may I offer up myself as your host?"

Kabuto only received a low hiss in response as the snake slithered off his shoulders and to the floor. "Carry out my ordersss, Kabuto," he hissed as he slithered away.

Kabuto clenched his teeth. He was slightly offended, but held it back and bowed respectfully instead before curtly turning to disappear into the darkness once again to continue his dear master's orders.

Kabuto knew the plan well, as he helped conceive it. They will go after Sasuke and use the teen as bait to lure out Itachi, making him vulnerable in the process, and then kill him along with the rest of the Akatsuki. Just taking Sasuke won't be enough to lure out all of the Akatsuki, so they would have to use Kabuto's knowledge and research to lure out the rest. The Akatsuki will surely suffer dearly for everything they have done, and the young Uchiha will be put to far better use than a future in the family's police force.

* * *

An early summer weekend had began for the gang. Suki, who always had the weekends off from work at the information and intelligence center, was only just beginning to awaken to a delightful aroma of someone preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Of course she knew it was Itachi, so she was not surprised when she finally opened her eyes and found his side of the bed empty. He was a bit of an early riser, something she knew about him since they started dating and he would talk about when he got up and what he did in the mornings. She was not an early riser, preferring to relax while she could, but they didn't have to have everything in common.

This was their first weekend together after he officially and completely moved out of his and Shisui's old apartment. The stuff he didn't need when moving in with Suki got moved back to his parents house for now. Suki's apartment was pretty small, but enough for just the two of them. Of course, she had to spend some time moving around her own stuff, including cleaning and storing other things to make a little more room for him.

She really enjoyed living with him so far. Getting to see him every morning and night, even if it was only for a minute, made her happy. She was also thinking of this living together thing as a great trail run for what it might be like if they ever got married, though she was fairly sure that after three years together that there wasn't going to be anything major by living together that would cause them to break up now. Every once in a while they would have an argument, the last one was about a year ago, but they worked through it. While they had their flaws that she became aware of over the years, like his tendency to keep secrets longer than he should or how she could overreact sometimes, they learned to work both with and around each other in those aspects and their relationship actually became stronger. They were a team, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses and were able to work together almost flawlessly. It took three years of dating to get to that point, but Suki didn't regret a single part of it thanks to the outcome. She was sure they would continue to grow together as a couple and a team, more so now that they lived together.

There were only a few things that would cause her view of Itachi to decline, and those were things she learned that she would not stand for in a man fairly early on in her school dating experiences before Itachi. All she really wanted in her relationship was someone that listened to her and respected her. Of course she wanted a brave, honorable, and yes, attractive man, but those things wouldn't mean much if she was ignored or treated like a lower-class citizen. This was why she loved Itachi so much, he was kind to her and not only did they grow together and have shared so many things and memories, but he also respected her and valued her opinions. Just the other night she asked if he would leave his toothbrush in the holder instead of on the counter by the sink so the counter would stay clean longer, and to her surprise, he actually did it. A part of her was expecting him to do it once and then go back to his old habit, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. She was beginning to think that he would make a great husband. Yes, she had entertained the thought of marriage occasionally, but she wouldn't dare bring it up to him, for fear of sounding either clingy or desperate and she didn't want to scare him away if he wasn't ready for such thoughts.

Suki looked forward to spending the weekend with Itachi, since they had hardly seen each other all week due to their work schedules, mainly his. He had worked overtime everyday this week so by the time he got home late the night before, he basically collapsed into bed, only taking off his shoes before doing so. It appeared that a good nights sleep and a weekend off from work was just what Itachi needed to bring his spirits up.

Just as Suki began to stretch her arms over her head after sitting up, the bedroom door was nudged opened and Itachi entered with a tray of breakfast. "Good morning, glad to see you're already up," he said as he approached her and then set the tray over her lap.

"What's all this?" she asked looking at the display of a romantic breakfast and then to him.

"It's for you," he chuckled.

"Is it my birthday?" she laughed. It wasn't her birthday, but it sure felt like it to receive breakfast in bed.

"Nope, just wanted to do something special for you," he said. "I've got the day planned for us, so eat up and get ready," he said quickly before leaning over to peck her lips and leave again.

Suki thought this was interesting behavior and considered herself lucky to have such a good boyfriend. She took a bite of the breakfast that had been made for her, some of her favorites, and it instantly had her taste buds dancing. Remembering he said he had the rest of the day planned and that she should get ready, she wondered where they were going. Boy was she going to enjoy today if it continued to be like this!

Meanwhile next door, Raven was drinking tea in front of the television with her cat Ninja when there was a knock at the door. Putting her tea down on the table, she moved to answer it and not sure who it was going to be. She just hoped it wasn't someone trying to sell something.

As she opened the door, she found a certain red-head looking towards the street as he waited patiently. "Hey, Sasori," she greeted and moved to let him inside. He had a key to her place, as she did for his, but they rarely used them without knocking first. "What brings you here this morning?" she asked as she closed the door again behind them.

Sasori held up a couple brown paper sacks and smirked. "I stopped by that bakery you like so much and got you some pastries for breakfast," he said and his smirk broke into a full smile when he saw her expression change to one of joy. He didn't get to say anything else when she quickly hopped up joyfully and took the bags from him and brought them to the table to see what wonderful delights were inside.

"I can hardly believe you actually got in on a weekend morning, normally they're sold out really fast, how early did you have to get there?" she asked as she took a couple pastries and placed them on some plates for them.

"I pulled some strings," he smirked proudly.

"Sasori…" she scolded causing him to chuckle.

"Not chakra strings," he laughed a little more as he realized how his words were taken. Not the best figure of speech for him to use considering his specialty in weaponized puppetry. "I talked to the owner earlier this week and preordered so I could pick them up fresh when I got there," he explained.

"Very nice, you are certainly in my good graces right now, I hope you aren't planning on dropping some bad news on me," Raven said with a hint of humor, though she was a little serious too. He hadn't done something like that to her yet, but that didn't mean it wasn't possible.

"Course not, just wanted to bring you breakfast, have you eaten already?"

"Not yet," she said. "These smell really good, come on," she gestured the other plate she put out for him. "I'll get you some tea."

They fell into an already familiar routine of setting things out on the table for breakfast, each knowing where and how to set stuff for themselves and each other. The tea pot was already prepared so it was simply brought over from the stove along with another cup. Raven retrieved her cup from the coffee table in front of the couch to take to her place at the dining table nearby.

They were quiet for a few minutes while they ate their breakfast, simply listening to the television's commercials on children's trading cards and camouflaged ninja shoes. Neither had to interact much or say anything to know what they were thinking or feeling. Their friends thought it was weird, but it was how they worked. They shared many things in common and the things they didn't share were simply the aspects that made them individuals. Knowing this fact, they were able to work together effectively and to others it would appear psychically. Sometimes though, being so alike would cause problems for them. Luckily that wasn't often and they've only had a few major fights over the last three years, but they also had very few minor arguments.

With Raven's best friend, Suki, getting so serious in her relationship with Itachi by officially living together next door, it got Raven thinking about where she and Sasori were going. While the two couples seemed to move at a similar pace in Raven's observations, each milestone hit at about the same time, they were also different couples at the same time. Suki and Itachi always seemed to know where they were in their relationship, while Raven and Sasori actually had to talk that out sometimes. While Raven and Sasori appeared to be psychic to each other according to their friends, they of course were unable to read each other's minds for real, meaning there was some communication involved.

As Raven sipped her tea, her thoughts fell back onto Suki and Itachi. She hoped that living together would work out. To see them break up now after so long and so much time and feelings spent on their relationship, Raven knew that each would be lost and devastated to lose each other.

Raven let her gaze linger over Sasori for a moment, thinking about some whispering she caught the guys doing at their last meeting. They had seemed to be in a pleasant mood about whatever it was they were talking about, but when she asked Sasori about it, he said he couldn't tell her. She had been puzzled my this, but then she noticed that Itachi both happy and anxious lately. Her initial assumption was about living with Suki, as that is a big step for any couple. Now though, Raven began to hypothesize other theories that she would have to simply wait and see to find out.

"Enjoying it?" Sasori asked suddenly, breaking Raven's train of thought.

"Mm-mm," she hummed as she smiled at him. He smiled back, making her smile continue. They were having a moment of simply gazing at each other that was disrupted when a familiar chirping meow caught their attention. It was Ninja, wanting attention and maybe a freebee snack from the table.

"Hey girl," Sasori greeted so Ninja rubbed against his leg, earning her a couple quick strokes on the head. The cat was certainly used to having him around, that was for sure. If Sasori decided to move in here with Raven, there didn't appear to be any problems with the pets.

Raven thought about that. Was that the next step for them as well? Moving in together? It didn't appeal to Raven to leave her current apartment yet, and she didn't really like Sasori's place that much, because if felt cold and unlived in. He felt the same about way about his place, which was probably why he frequented Raven so much when she was home and off from missions. She was well aware he only bought his place for one major reason other than his need to get out of his grandmother's house, and that was the garage for his work. Raven certainly didn't have a garage or anything like a basement or attic even to serve as a major project work space. She supposed that if he did move in with her, he could rent a garage, lab, or another work space somewhere since that is an option around here.

Shaking her head and dismissing those thoughts for now, she decided that whatever the next step might be for them, it would come whenever it comes and she can always think about it when they get there. Now was not the time to over think things.

"So…" Sasori started as they finished their breakfast, "I've got something for us to do today."

"Like what?" Raven asked, wondering if it had to do with helping him test a new poison.

"Just going to take you out, we haven't done that it a while," he shrugged. "You know, movie, lunch, catch a comedian skit, and maybe take a small hike up to that place outside the village where we used to always look at the sky?"

Raven tilted her head to the side. That sounded like quite the day, but it seemed like he really wanted to do it, since he took the time to butter her up with breakfast. "Sure, sounds good," she said and noticed his relieved sigh.

* * *

Suki was right. Today was great. Itachi was practically pampering her for no reason at all other than he simply wanted to. Not that she had a problem with that, no not all. It was like he made today all about them and combined all their best date memories from the last three years into one amazing day.

After breakfast, he took her to a movie where they spent more time looking at each other and exchanging small affections than watching the movie. It was like when they first started dating and had become more comfortable around each other. As soon as the credits started, they were going to get a light lunch which was followed by a walk hand-in-hand as they chatted which led to some window shopping once they hit the shopping district of town. It reminded her of that time they went holiday shopping together three years ago. Though this time Sasuke came up in conversation much less.

At one point Suki lingered outside a bridal gown shop to gaze upon a magnificent wedding dress on display in the window. She knew it was probably outrageously expensive and it wasn't really what she would want for herself if she ever got married, but its beauty still caught her eye. They ended up staying there for several minutes and he brought up Shisui's recent marriage a little bit. Of course Itachi was at the wedding, as well as most, if not all, of the clan was. Itachi was allowed to take a date, so he took Suki. Shisui's wife had tried to keep their wedding simple, but the Uchiha clan appeared to make it bigger than intended. Suki made a mental note of that for if she married Itachi.

Near the end of their window shopping walk, Itachi stopped and bought her a rose. "Here," he said as he presented it to her.

Suki smiled as she took it before she took a small sniff. "Thanks, you didn't have to do that," she said.

"I know, but I wanted to," he said. "Just because we've been together a while doesn't mean I'll ever stop doing things like this," he added with a charming smile making her giggle softly.

This is when he decided to tell her that he made a reservation at the nicest restaurant in town, so they would have to stop at home to change out of their street clothes and into something more formal. He also told her that if she would like to dance at all, to wear her comfortable shoes.

Suki thought about how he wasn't kidding when he told her that he had planned the whole day. She also thought about how he must have really missed her and felt bad about working so much lately. While she didn't mind not getting to see him as much every once in a while, if this was how he decided to make it up to her, then she wasn't going to complain. She briefly wondered if all this was just a way to seduce her and make things easier for him tonight in the bedroom. He didn't appear to be trying to seduce her though. It did however, seem like he was trying to butter her up for something. Whatever it was, she would just have to wait to find out.

She had the rest of the day with him, and a lot more surprises to expect from whatever he had planned besides the dinner and dancing. Just thinking about it made her happy. She had no idea that he had planned this and again wondered if it was her birthday or something.

As they began their walk towards home so they could get ready for dinner, she squeezed his hand a bit to draw his attention to her so she could give him a quick kiss. "Thank you," she said while trying to keep from laughing at his surprised expression.

Quickly though, his face melted into another charming smile. "Don't thank me yet, there is still a lot to be done, and I have a much bigger surprise in store for you after dinner," he said.

"I hope I'll like it," she said. "Can you give me a clue about what it is?" she winked.

He pretended to have a very thoughtful expression before he smiled back at her and also winked. "I suppose I can tell you one thing…" he said.

"What?"

"It involves you and me," he grinned.

Suki rolled her eyes. "I know that part, now let me guess, there's a bed included in your grand plan?" she sighed.

Itachi's eyebrows raised for a moment before he laughed. "No, no, it's not like that," he assured and pulled her closer next to him. It's not like he wasn't willing to do that tonight, but it was not exactly a part of the master plan up through dinner. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Suki pouted, "I guess I will," she said making him chuckle a bit before he kissed her temple as they kept walking with his arm still securely around her shoulders.

At least she knew she had dinner and dancing to look forward to. Whatever today had in store for her, she was going to do her best to enjoy it for Itachi.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Fluffy chapter here, but that is going to change soon. You've probably already figured out what's going to happen at the end of the day for both couples, as I've been leading up to it for these first 2 chapters. Think the girls will like it? Or are they ready?

Looks like the Sound are going to be making their move soon? How soon and who will be the first to know about it? Read and find out.

If you're still reading, I would like to mention that reviews are welcome anytime, even years after posting this.


	3. Bad Feeling

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 3: Bad Feeling

Darkness hid the handful of criminal ninja well as they awaited their orders. They new what they had to do, after years of waiting and planning, it appeared it would finally be time to act.

"So you five have already been briefed on your mission and your new targets," Kabuto's voice began clearly. "He trusts all of you to complete this task, and that's why you're here. The time is now, and when they are destroyed, he will reward all of you greatly."

The five figures bowed and disappeared together without another word. They knew that this mission was life or death, and failure was not an option. If they were to fail, it better be because they are dead. It was that, or their master would kill them himself. It was a simple concept for them, one they were taught and have followed since their time in the Sound Academy.

They did wonder why a couple were targets, since they remember their master's great efforts to get them to leave Konoha-Suna Union High and join him five years ago. Perhaps it was simply because they posed a threat to their master, or they know too much about them. Whatever the reason, it didn't matter to them. Their orders were clear.

From their location, it would take two days to reach Konoha. They were ready. The Akatsuki weren't the only ones that were going to suffer.

* * *

Sometimes the guys in the Akatsuki like any reason to celebrate and break out the booze. This time was not much different, other than having a _real_ reason to throw a sudden party and bust out the expensive liquor that Hidan and Pain had been hiding away in in their headquarters, which was still hidden at Konan's salon. Yes, that meant everyone in the Akatsuki still had to get their nails done and painted a specific color. Over the past few years, the guys got over it since they looked good. They also got a discount. Yes, that meant they still have to pay even though they were required to do it. The complaints about that died down after a couple years.

"I'm still surprised she even said yes, Sasori my man," Deidara said for the third time to Sasori. The blond had obviously already had a little too much to drink and was boarding the level of being actually drunk. His glass was in one hand and his arm was slung across the red-head's shoulders.

"Yes, I was surprised too," Sasori admitted.

"And you," Deidara began, "I can't believe you actually, finally, went for it. My man's gonna tie the knot, man… the knot!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sasori stated a bit annoyed with Deidara while he shrugged off his arm. "I'm not the one with commitment issues here, and besides, Raven and I are only engaged now, there won't be a wedding for a while."

"Oh yeah, a wedding. Oh–oh, can make her dress?" Deidara asked excitedly, nearly spilling his drink on Sasori.

"How should I know? It's her dress, you should ask her, not me," Sasori said, this time pushing Deidara away a little while also scooting away so a drink can't get poured in his lap.

Meanwhile, Raven and Suki were chatting with Tobi, who just returned from a mission so he was pleasantly surprised to hear about the resent developments in the group. Itachi was nearby talking to Pain about the gang–secret organization now.

"Yes, he told me it was his mother's," Raven explained as her friends examined the ring on her finger. "He said that he remembers his parents having a happy life together, he hopes we'll be like that too," she added.

"Awww," Tobi gushed with his hands together.

Then Deidara popped up between the girls with his arms around each of them. "Hey, I have a great idea!" he started immediately.

"What is it?" Suki asked while leaning away from him.

"I can make dresses!" he grinned.

"We know, you helped us with some gowns three years ago," Raven reminded.

"I mean for the your weddings," he said and the girls rolled their eyes as they chuckled and Sasori approached and pulled Deidara away.

"I didn't mean ask her now!" Sasori grumbled before looking back at his fiancée. "Sorry about him, he's had too many drinks already," he tried to explain as the others laughed.

"Maybe you're the one that's had too many drinks, Sasori!" Deidara defended. Sasori might have considered this comeback if he had drank more than one drink this evening. The reason simply being that he had an important submission meeting for a new poison tomorrow and he didn't want a hangover, as he tends to get those somewhat easily.

However, before Sasori could say anything back to his blond friend, Itachi interrupted as he approached Suki directly. "I have to go in, so I'll be home late tonight," he told his fiancée.

"To the Police Station?" Suki asked and he nodded once. "Is something wrong?"

"I doubt it's anything too major, but if they're calling for me here at the salon, they're probably pulling everybody in for a meeting, that or there's a major disturbance, but I don't hear sirens, so that can't be it," Itachi assured her.

"Alright, see you later," she said before he said goodbye to the others and took off.

The others shared a quick glance before Pain joined them. "I know this is a time of celebration, but I would like all of you to keep an eye out for anything strange in your areas of work," he requested.

"Sure, but how come?" Suki asked.

"Is there something going on that we should know about?" Raven added.

Pain shook his head gently. "It appears that every faction in the village have been calling up large meetings lately. I don't know if it should concern the Akatsuki, but it's our job to be aware of potential threats to the peace we having maintained. If something is happening out there, or if the Akatsuki are in danger, we need to know," he explained.

"I understand," Suki said, "I'll even snoop around the intelligence office tomorrow at work and ask around for any gossip."

"Things do seem to be odd lately," Raven started, "I recently had a mission canceled suddenly when I already arrived on location, and again earlier this week before it was even time for me to leave for the mission. I'm going to talk to some of the others in my field and see if this has been happening to them as well, if so, the village leaders are likely trying to keep the offensive teams in the village for some reason."

"The air has a charge, my man," Deidara slurred. "Like something's about to explode, yeah."

"Tobi had to spend an hour going through security to get back into the village today," Tobi said.

Pain nodded and thought for a moment. "I will let the others know to keep an eye out, and I will call everyone in for a meeting the day after tomorrow so you can all report back your findings," he said. "For now, relax and continue to celebrate the goods we are able to enjoy, there is nothing that be done about our suspicions tonight," he said and the others agreed.

* * *

Just as Itachi had said, he was home late that night. Suki was already in bed, but hadn't gone to sleep yet.

"Hey," she said to let him know that she was awake. "How'd it go?" she asked.

"It was a meeting," he sighed before starting to undress so he could get ready for bed. "I'm going to call Pain tomorrow morning, I don't want to bother him and Konan this late with just rumors," he said.

"Rumors of what?" Suki asked. The Uchiha Police don't have full meetings over just rumors, so what could be going on that there would be reason for concern?

Itachi sighed again and sat on the edge of his side of the bed. After thinking for a moment he looked back at Suki who was waiting for his response. "Remember those guys that attacked my brother a couple years ago?"

"The Sound Five?"

Itachi nodded. "They've been spotted up north a ways, they might be moving as a group, but that's not all," he said.

"Are they after Sasuke again? I thought his friends defeated them?" Suki questioned.

Itachi hated the thought of his brother being in danger. "There is a lot we don't know," he said. "But they aren't the only ones that have been spotted recently, many elusive rogues, and escaped or released criminals too, all up North."

"How long ago?"

"The reports have been coming in for the last few weeks, slowly, but the number can't be ignored," Itachi said.

"Did you already talk to Pain about all the meetings he's heard about lately?" Suki asked, wondering if Itachi knew that Pain wanted the Akatsuki to go on surveillance.

"Yes," Itachi nodded. "There is definitely something up, it's worrisome."

Suki nodded in complete agreement. "I guess just get some sleep, we'll figure it out soon," she said and he nodded before getting into bed.

"You're right," he said. "All the clues are there, we just need to put the pieces together, and hope it's nothing."

"We'll all do our best," Suki said.

"Are you going to do research at work?" Itachi asked as he slipped into bed.

"I will as soon as I can tomorrow, as well as ask what others have heard, seeing if there are other rumors," she explained.

"Okay," Itachi said just before turning out the light. It was already quite late, and he had to work in the morning. Not that he was on active duty tomorrow, but he had office work. He's a little behind on some paperwork from his last shift. This also gave him the chance to investigate the other reports that have come in and talk to the other officers. If he's lucky, a report from an investigation team at the Northern outpost will come in soon.

"Itachi?" Suki asked quietly a minute later.

"Hn?" he responded.

"Be careful," she said.

"Of what?" he questioned, looking at her in the dark. Seriously, he's Itachi Uchiha. There isn't much he has to worry about concerning himself. Others is another story though.

"If your past enemies really are up to something, like that creep–"

"I'll be fine, he isn't going to get near me or my family ever again, that includes you too now," he said. "Just go to sleep, we will deal with this like we always do, there's nothing to worry about."

Itachi wasn't going to dare mention the name of the man that was originally behind the Sound Five incident. The same man that was once a part of the Akatsuki. The same that tried to get him to betray his friends, steal his power, and attacked him and his friends. Even though that man is being imprisoned for life, Itachi knew that he still had very loyal underlings that would continue to carry out years-old orders in hopes of getting on his good side. Itachi not only prayed Sasuke wouldn't be in danger again, but the whole village as well. The Akatsuki had worked too hard to let the Sound get their way now. The turf wars lasted most of high school before the Akatsuki drove them out for good.

Though the Sound might actually be behind whatever is going on. It was unlikely considering their leader was detained, but a possibility that must be considered.

Itachi couldn't deny that something was going to happen, he just didn't know what, and how big it was going to be, or when. Of course nothing was going to happen tonight. The Akatsuki wouldn't be caught off guard that badly.

Itachi sighed as he let his body relax a bit. Just when things were going so well for him, another threat loomed over his head. With that in mind, he wrapped his arms around Suki as he settled into a more comfortable position. She complied and snuggled a bit closer and sighed.

Itachi realized that these days, he had so much more to lose than his first conflict with the Sound, back when he was battling his own sickness and might not have made it anyway. What if someone attacked Suki? Or took her hostage somehow? Heaven knew he's made more than a few enemies. He didn't know what he'd do if she was in danger because someone was trying to get to him. Probably be angry, very angry, but at the same time he would also be scared, very scared.

Holding her tighter, he swore to himself he would do everything he could to keep something like that from happening.

* * *

The next day, Suki was trying to work, but kept getting distracted every time her engagement ring came into her sight. She would open a filing cabinet and find herself admiring the ring and daydreaming about Itachi. With such an important task to do, she decided it was best to take it off and place it securely in her pocket so she could focus. There had to be something useful among all the recent reports.

Yawning, she remembered how Itachi came home late the night before. It had taken her a while to remember what they talked about, since she fell asleep as soon as they were settled. It wasn't really anything that important. Sure they're worried something big might be coming up, but this wouldn't be the first time they've worried like that.

Since she got the majority of her actual job done, of the important stuff at least, she was doing the research she'd said she'd do. If anyone thought she was snooping or in an area she didn't need to be in, she had the excuse of losing something or trying to track down an old report. If they asked why she was looking for a certain report, she'd tell them she didn't ask why. If they asked her who told her to look, she'd answer the Uchiha Police Department. If they tried to verify this, the request would get sent to Itachi, who would confirm it while claiming that they needed to verify their own reports if he also needed an excuse. This was a pretty good set up for the Akatsuki, and so far only once has someone tried to call the Uchiha Police about it.

Suki sighed after she had been at it for a while. She wasn't finding anything useful and while that could be a good sign, it was also a little disappointing since she was hoping to be even more useful to the Akatsuki since her promotion. Not even the more classified reports gave her clues about resent events.

She stretched as she approached a shelf of scrolls. Scrolls were a little harder to search through, and many of them tended to be sealed for containing things like forbidden jutsu or summoning seals. Deciding to take a short break before moving on to the next area going into older reports, she pulled out her ring and placed it on her finger to admire it and daydream about her fiancé for a minute.

Maybe there would be something tomorrow, for now, it was time to get back to her paid job and hope the others were having better luck figuring out what was going on up North and if there's reason for concern.

* * *

Itachi was on the phone at his desk, which was currently covered in paperwork. "Yes, she said she didn't find anything," he said into the receiver. He was on the phone with Pain, telling him that Suki called saying she didn't have any luck, but that she was going to keep looking again later that day. "No I haven't got a chance to look yet or talk to anyone, my work hasn't seemed to dwindle at all today yet," Itachi explained and listened for a minute. "Yes, I'll do something before I leave and call you when I get home… Of course, bye."

He hung up and sighed before glaring at the paperwork. At least he was in the office today, but the others weren't talking much, seeming to be in the same situation he was in. Lots of paperwork. Where does it even all come from? Itachi kind of wished he was on a patrol shift right now instead. Actually, where he really wished to be was on vacation and in a hot bath with Suki, but those were fantasies that had to be pushed to the back of his mind in order to focus and work.

After clearing part of his desk from paperwork, he filed what was done and took a break so he would talk to some others. He spotted his cousin Nina nearby, also taking a break from what he could tell, since she wasn't at her desk.

"Nina," he started to get the petite woman's attention.

"Ah Itachi, are you doing well?" she smiled. "I heard about your engagement."

Itachi smiled back. "Yes, but who told you about it?" he asked.

"Oh you know, family gossip spreads fast," she giggled. "So what's up?" she asked, knowing Itachi likely came to speak to her for a reason.

"I'm getting through the paperwork," they both chuckled.

"There does seem to be a lot of it lately," she nodded.

He couldn't agree more. "Were you at the meeting last night?" He knew she was, but this was way to bring it up casually.

"I was," she nodded. "Are you concerned about something?"

Itachi nodded. "We are not the only ones being pulled back from our regular duties and suddenly holding meetings like that," he explained.

"Oh?" Nina looked around before meeting Itachi's eyes again. "I haven't heard anything from my friends lately about their duties, but who else is getting reports about the information from last night?"

Itachi sighed, "I was hoping you would know that."

"Sorry, do you think something weird is going on?"

"Yes," Itachi said. "Would you do me a favor and let me know if you see any information about the Northern criminal sightings?" he asked.

"Sure thing, Itachi," Nina nodded. "I don't think there is much to worry about, but it did sound like a lot of sightings. I'll let you know if I hear anything else about it."

"Thanks Nina, I am going to get back to my paperwork, it isn't going to finish itself," he smiled.

"Urg, yeah me too," she sighed as they went back to work.

Itachi sat back down at his desk and forced himself through another pile of paperwork. Occasionally he would take a couple seconds to look at a picture on his desk of him and Suki during a beach vacation a few years ago, while allowing himself to indulge in his relaxing couple's bath fantasy for a moment until he snapped himself back into his work. A few years ago he would have considered himself to be very distracted, but now he didn't care as much anymore since he learned that his little fantasies helped keep him sane when doing such boring tasks.

It was almost the end of the workday by the time be got another call. "Hello, this is Itachi Uchiha of Uchiha Police," he answered monotone.

"_Hey Itachi, it's me again_," came Suki's voice and Itachi sat up straight to talk to her.

Itachi noted her tone. "Did you find something?" he asked.

"_Um, kind of, I'm not sure why this wasn't reported earlier, and you might already know about it. It only just came in as an S-rank statement, I don't think I was supposed to see it, but I'm the only one at work right now and so it was left to me to deal with it_…"

"What is it?"

"_It says that he broke out prison, Itachi_," she said quietly.

Itachi really hoped she wasn't talking about who he thought she was. "Who, exactly?" he asked too calmly.

"…_Orochimaru_," she confirmed, making Itachi slam his free fist on his desk, causing it to crack under the force.

The others nearby looked at him with surprise, concern, or confusion. He ignored them and glared at his paperwork before speaking again and making sure he was calm enough to not yell at his fiancée. "Are you sure?"

"_It's clear… some guards were killed and it happened during a mysterious blackout, they didn't realize he was gone until it was too late. The remaining prison guards looked everywhere to try to capture him again_…"

"Damn it," Itachi cursed. "He better not be a part of the equation we're trying to solve…" he muttered. If Orochimaru was up to something, they could only guess what it might be, that rotten _snake_ was insane.

"_Why haven't you heard about this_?" Suki asked him.

"It's not really any of my business as far as the higher ups are concerned," he complained.

"_Should I keep quiet about this until the next meeting tomorrow_?"

Itachi thought about it for a moment. "This is kind of important news to… us," he avoided talking about their secret organization. "If you catch Raven, go ahead, she might have heard something from someone in interrogation that works closer with the leaders."

"_Alright, will do,_" Suki said. "_Raven had mentioned a bridal shop she passes on her way to and from work, so I might take a look there on my way home_," she added, which made him smile a little to think about how he was going to marry Suki someday soon.

"No problem, I'll see you at home then."

"_Love you, bye_," she finished.

"You too, bye," he added before they hung up.

So Orochimaru broke out of prison. That was definitely not something Itachi wanted to hear. He was going to have to make some calls about this right away. First was Pain if he could reach him, then there was Shisui, and then he had to talk to his father.

Just when Itachi picked up the phone to dial Pain, his father came out of his office and approached him directly. Seeing his father coming to him, Itachi put the phone back without finishing the dial.

"Itachi, can you get a hold of the Northern Outpost, I can't get through, it might be my phone," he said.

"Sure," Itachi said and called up the first number for the Northern Outpost. It was a long ways away, so sometimes it took a few more seconds for the connection to be made. "That's weird, I don't hear any ringing, I'll try the other line," he said and tried the other one. This one rang, but then there was a different problem, and it just kept ringing without an answer. "They're not answering, is there still someone on duty?" Itachi asked.

"I don't know what their shifts are up there," Fugaku said. "I'll have someone send a messenger bird anyway, they need our reply to their recent reports."

"Is something wrong?"

Fugaku hesitated. "I just got a report they should know about also. The Hokage needs them to keep an extra keen eye out for a while," he explained.

Itachi wished for a moment that he could asked about Orochimaru directly, but technically he wasn't supposed to know about that report so he couldn't say anything. "Keep an eye out for what?" Itachi asked, sure that he already knew the answer.

"An S-rank criminal broke out of prison recently," he said. "He's not stupid enough to come to the village right away, but he should be captured before he can so something like that."

It was clear to Itachi that he could not be told who escaped prison, but the stories matched so far, so he was sure who it was.

As soon as his father left, Itachi decided to make one other call before calling Pain. He looked up and called the prison that Orochimaru was being held at. They also had two numbers, one didn't ring, and the other didn't answer. That was weird, it was the same as the Northern Outpost, but unlike the outpost, there should always be someone by the phone in the prison.

This didn't sit well at all. Something wasn't right.

* * *

On the roof of a building near the Uchiha Police Station, a cloaked man with glasses reflecting the sun grinned.

"I wonder if they are figuring it out yet?" he muttered. "I am giving them enough clues… now I just need to get the bait… and I know just where to go." His glasses flickered in the sun and he looked over the village, towards a particular building with the symbol of fire displayed proudly on it. He didn't need to break in or anything. All he was going to do was wait. Wait outside the information wing, and shadow a certain young intelligence keeper until she let her guard down.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I was informed by my beta that this was a cliff hanger. I was unsure about that, but it may be somewhat. All will be revealed in due time. I've been foreshadowing left and right, but there are still some things that should come as a surprise.

I have been having a difficult time deciding what the main 2 genres of this fic should be. Thoughts?

Until next time, Readers, please review.


	4. Preemptive Strike

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 4: Preemptive Strike

Itachi was stuck doing paperwork the rest of the day, until he reached over for the next report and found his tray empty. He blinked a couple times, making sure he was truly finished. Then he looked around for anyone with another armful of paperwork ready to put it on his desk. With no such thing in sight, Itachi stood up and stretched. He had been so focused and intent on getting done that he didn't realize what time it was.

The moment of relaxation didn't last long at all as Itachi remembered that he still had his _other job _to do. Many things were happening, and he was sure they were linked somehow.

There was a large number of criminal sightings around the same area, information about recent village activities have been scattered and hard to pull together, village security is going haywire, and missions were being cancelled or postponed for an unknown time. Everyone he'd spoken to have been affected in some way by recent events. They all noticed things have been odd. Even Deidara thought something in air was different. But the worst thing was what he had heard from Suki just a short while ago, which was that Orochimaru had broken himself out of prison.

Itachi wondered why now? Why after four years in that supposedly high security prison had Orochimaru just recently escaped? How did he do it?

There was something missing in this that Itachi needed to know before he could figure out what was going on. Yes, he was concerned, but he had every reason to be when that snake of a man was involved. Kicking him out of the Akatsuki, shutting down his rotten Sound Academy of brain-washed loyal lab rats, and getting him imprisoned were some of the Akatsuki's best actions in Itachi's mind.

Itachi just realized he had worked over today. Several of the others that had come into the office today had already left for the night. Since he was done with his work, he could take his leave as well. He was worried about Suki having to wait up for him, since she knew he had a lot of work today, and she had said she was going to catch up with Raven and compare notes about recent events and their relevance to the Akatsuki.

With any luck, they would gather the missing pieces quickly.

The moment Itachi left the building, he felt like he was being watched and activated his Sharingan without hesitation. Did he see what he thought he saw? No, it couldn't be. But the possibility was there, so he quickly went to the Akatsuki hideout, hoping to find Pain. This day was not good at all.

As he entered the nail salon, he found it was empty. No customers at the moment, but Konan was there. "Do you have something for Pain?" she asked, seeing his red eyes.

Itachi nodded grimly without a word, so she let him pass into the back room. Of course, the Akatsuki 'base' included the back room, but it was not just the back room. The back room provided a good front as a hang out spot for the gang. It they were getting together socially, the back room was fine, but if there was truly _business_, there was another large and secure room far under the salon for that. Itachi knew how to get there, as well as the rest of the Akatsuki, but that was it. Pain was likely down there going through secret documents or the clues they have scraped together already.

"I take it you found something, Itachi?" Pain asked from a table with a single light on it.

"I just left work," Itachi started, that part should have been obvious since he was still wearing the uniform. "And I sense something and took a look."

Pain didn't like there this was going, but gave Itachi his full attention.

* * *

Sasori had a bad day. Not only did his meeting to display his new poison not go well, but he had come up short on any useful information regarding recent events. He had no idea what was going on.

He felt like he should know better than to hope for the best. Things never work out that easily. Today was a glaring example of that. The board was not impressed with his new metal based poison. They said it was too slow and even cruel.

Psh, he wasn't getting paid to develop the same old poisons again. The people paying him were the ones that wanted something new that enemies wouldn't have an immediate antidote for, so he developed just that. Guess there's just another secret weapon to add to his own arsenal.

The meeting went from bad to worse when they accused him of slacking since he was working from home. That irked him the most. They were the ones that suggested he have a private work space of his choosing. So where was all this crap coming from? Either way, looks like he'll be back in the lab for the foreseeable future. Maybe it was time to start looking at getting his own lab, maybe even a warehouse there? Not like he was attached to his current living situation. He'd be moving eventually since he's engaged to be married now.

Raven was not going to be happy to hear about his day. He debated whether he should bother telling her the details, and just say that he has to move his lab back to the main lab building. Of course she would ask why, but if she senses he doesn't want to talk about it yet, she might humor him for a little while. He knew one thing she would ask no matter what, and that was what he was going to do about his garage? Naturally, he was going to sell his place, with no use for it anymore. Maybe he'd follow Itachi's example and move in with his fiancée until they get another place together? Sasori considered himself a little more traditional since he was hoping Raven would want to move in with him first, but he didn't really care about it either way since the result was going to be the same. They'd be together.

Sasori just reached his home when he saw Raven waiting by his door. "What's up?" he asked, seeing she was not in much better of a mood than he was.

"Pain called, he wants us there midnight tonight, he wanted me to tell you because of your thing today," Raven explained.

"Something must have happened for him to push up the meeting," Sasori rubbed his neck for a second.

"Yeah, seemed like someone found out about something big," she added.

Sasori checked the time when he opened the door and let them inside. "It's still going to be a while until we have to be there, want to go get dinner?" he asked her.

"Might as well," she said with a small smile. "Come on," she held out her hand, "I can tell you've had a hard day," she added and led him back out the door.

In that moment, Sasori knew he was going to tell her everything about today. Good things or bad things, he wouldn't be able to help himself.

* * *

Suki felt like she had slept horribly for hours. As her eyes slowly drifted open to see just darkness, not even moonlight from her window drifted to the corners as it normally would when she woke while it was still dark out.

Must be a new moon tonight.

She was about to close her eyes again to go back to sleep when she realized something didn't feel right. It took her a few more seconds to draw together enough consciousness to realize she was not in bed. The moment this became clear in her mind, she gasped and sat up. She winced and clutched her head, there was a sore bump hidden in her hair.

It took a moment for her vision to adjust to the darkness, but when it did, she realized she was in what seemed like a prison cell.

What happened? The last thing she remembered was walking home from work.

Then it hit her. When she paused to gaze at her engagement ring, something happened. She was completely distracted while in a trip to dreamland that she didn't even see or hear it coming. Granted, whoever did this to her must have been silent, but all her years of ninja training and practicing with Raven as a sparing partner had caused her to develop a keen sense.

Getting into this situation, she admitted, was her fault. As a ninja, she knew better than to completely lose sight of what is happening around her, but she did just that. If she had just tripped or been startled while in her dreamy daze, she would have learned her lesson and taken off that precious ring so it wouldn't temp her in public.

Suki sighed. No use dwelling over could haves. Now was the time to figure out what to do and where to go from here. The first thing that came to mind was escape, obviously. Then another thought came to mind, and that was reconnaissance. No, it was not her specialty, at least not behind enemy lines, but she knew the basics at least, if not a little more from listening to the mission stories of Raven and Itachi.

If she could find out who kidnapped her and locked her in here, then she could attempt her escape afterward and take that information back to the Akatsuki. There was also the possibility that Itachi was already on his way to rescue her. If that was the case, then it would be more helpful to find out all she can before she leaves. In either scenario, breaking herself out or being rescued, gathering intelligence would be her first objective.

* * *

"You saw Kabuto?" Deidara repeated after hearing Itachi's story. Everyone else remained as silent as death. Many of the Akatsuki members were present, including Zetsu who was still the Ag teacher at KSUH, and Kakuzu, who still handled finance in KSUH but now also in Konan's Salon and for the Akatsuki. There was also Hidan, Kisame, Tobi, and Konan. Sasori, Raven, and Suki were late, but they could be doing something important and can easily be caught up when they arrived.

Itachi was a little worried when he had gone home for a short while and didn't see Suki. She had said she was working later than normal today and that she was going to find Raven. Since Raven was with her, they probably already knew of the sudden midnight meeting and would show up sooner or later.

"Kabuto's presence confirms our earlier theories," Pain began. "Orochimaru is on the move."

"Damn, I thought we got rid of that faggot," Hidan cursed angrily. "So shit, what the fuck are we supposed to do about them?"

"Simple," Deidara started. "We find them and blow them up, problem solved for the rest of lives, un."

"Tracking those two is not a simple task," Kakuzu reminded. "We don't even know how he escaped and what kind of power he might have now."

"One thing is for sure," Pain said sternly, making sure everyone was listening. "We must take immediate action, and whatever they have planned won't be good… we are likely his first target if only just as a act of revenge."

"He'll use anything to get to us," Itachi said. "He's like that." He hoped Suki got there soon. Her tardiness was making him anxious with all this Orochimaru talk.

"War," Konan spoke, drawing their attention to her. "He will surely aim for war."

They were silent, knowing this to be true, until Pain spoke again. "Then we will be ready."

"Humph, we've taken on all those Sound punks and Orochimaru and his lackey, so we can do it again, yeah," Deidara stated confidently.

"Don't be so confident, Deidara, it'll go to your head," Sasori said from behind the blond man. He had come in only seconds earlier, but Deidara didn't hear him. Not willing to admit he was caught off guard by the red-head, Deidara simply glared at him. "I apologize we are late, but Raven wanted to wait for Suki for a bit in case she didn't know about the meeting."

Raven stepped up beside him. "She wasn't at home so I figured she went on ahead," she explained.

"…What?" Itachi looked at her. "She wasn't with you?"

Raven raised an eyebrow. "No, why? Was she supposed to be?" Itachi was caught in a stunned silence as his mind reeled. "I thought she was with you…" Raven added, her train of thought obviously following a similar path as the Uchiha.

"She said she was going to find you to update you on tonight, where did she go after that?" Itachi asked, barely masking his panic.

"…I haven't see her today," Raven said. "What's wrong?" she asked, seeing his eyes widen.

"Itachi, is it possible that _HE_ has her already?" Kisame asked, knowing full well that everyone was thinking it, but also knowing that he was probably the only one that could voice this without Itachi hurting him.

"Shit…" Itachi cursed. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" He was about to leave and go after her right away when everyone stopped him by blocking the basement's stairway exit.

"I know, Itachi, believe me, I know what you want to do right now," Pain said. "But don't go without a clear mind. There's nothing you can do right now, she's probably been gone for hours, and you know how Orochimaru works, he's not going to kill her right away…" Itachi's shoulders slumped as he submitted, but his hands were in tight fists. "We have to come up with a plan before we take action."

"Yes," Itachi agreed while looking away.

"We best get to work now, and make sure we're all caught up any and all information beside anything Suki found out since she last talked to Itachi," Pain added.

"Raven will start with what she now knows, her connections to Konoha's ANBU might have had something," Pain said.

Raven hesitated before nodding in agreement. No one noticed her hesitation but Sasori. He knew that she wanted to find her friend before something truly bad happened, but knew that Pain's words were right. If they all went running after her now, they wouldn't even know where to start looking. Still, Sasori was going to keep an eye on Raven and another on Itachi to make sure they didn't both run off ahead and do something out of character and rash.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Suki's head had cleared considerably since she awoke in the dark cell. The bump on her head was still sore, but tolerable. Within minutes since she regained conscience, she found out that she wasn't able to summon up any chakra for jutsu. Figures. There was probably chakra blocking seals all over the cell.

In the unknown time she was stuck there with no other human interaction or way to find out where she was or why she was there, she spent the time examining every stone and crevice of the cell. There was no way out and the caged door wouldn't budge even a millimeter.

She was able to figure out that she was not in any kind of building, but maybe underground or in a cave. When she paused to listen, there was a soft breeze that would whistle and moan through the tunnels from either side of her cell. She decided to sit near the caged door, close her eyes, and listen. If she could figure out which way the wind was coming from, she would know where to run during her escape.

Meditating to focus. It was all that was left to do until someone revealed themselves as her captor or guard.

The wind was coming from the left. Perfect. This thought also made her mentally chuckle. Raven used to always say that when you don't know where to go, try left. It was scary how often it worked.

With that figured out, now all she had to do was wait for someone to show up or her chakra to suddenly work again. Releasing a long quiet sigh as she thought, she ended up deciding that this was probably a good time to admire her engagement ring since things couldn't get much worse right now. She could go for a little daydreaming about her fiancé.

Her eyes were adjusted to the darkness, she could see fine, but when she lifted her hand to look at the ring, she had to blink several times to make sure she was seeing this right. Her eyes widened as it became apparent that her ring was no longer on her finger.

Suki checked her other hand. Then she checked all her pockets and even patted herself down in case it was hidden someplace else in her clothing. She didn't find it.

Placing her hand over her mouth in attempt to keep herself from panicking, she looked all over the cell for her ring in case it fell during her examination of the small space.

"No, no, no, no, no…" Suki muttered. "It's gone, I can't find it anywhere." She had no idea where it could be. It could be on the ground anywhere from just outside in this tunnel to wherever she was captured in the village. Someone could have taken it. What if she never finds it? How was she supposed to tell Itachi? He'd be crushed! The ring has been in his family for a least three generations that she knew of! It's an heirloom. His family will hate her because of this!

"Having fun?" a raspy voice echoed suddenly from the caged door.

Suki whipped around, but saw no one. She quickly wiped her eyes to get rid of the quickly forming tears from the loss of her ring. She didn't want an approaching enemy to see her crying. It would be embarrassing as a ninja and a future Uchiha.

"I am told you are Suki Uchiha," the voice continued. She figured out the voice was coming from just outside her cell, but out of view. Was it a guard coming to finally check on her?

But he called her…

"I'm not…" she started but trailed off.

"Married yet, I am aware," the voice explained. "But I do not know your maiden name, and you are all but an Uchiha as it is." Basically, it was close enough, and this man obviously didn't care.

"… What am I doing here and who are you?" Suki figured she'd give it a shot. Wouldn't know if they won't tell her until she asked.

A young man with white hair and pale skin stepped into her view on the other side of her cell door. She recognized him, but it took her a few seconds. Kimimaro of the Sound. But how? Documents in intelligence suggested his demise during the Sound Five's attack on Itachi's little brother, Sasuke. Perhaps it was not really Kimimaro. But then why use his face in front of Suki when Suki shouldn't really know what he looks like if it hadn't been for some snooping at work? This was strange.

They stared at each other, both equally emotionless and not giving away any thoughts. "He will know you are here soon," he said.

"What?" she asked, eyes narrowing. "Who?"

"Uchiha," he stated simply.

"What do you mean?" Of course Itachi would realize she's nowhere to be found before the end of the night. But maybe it had only been a few hours since she was attacked?

"Have you noticed anything missing that was once in your possession?" he asked. Even she knew it was a leading question, there was only one thing she was missing. But that would mean…

"Give it back," she said seriously.

"I do not have it either."

Suki wanted to her roll her eyes. "Then who does?"

There was a long silence. Suki thought he wasn't going to answer. But when he did, the silence after was deafening. She simply stood there as he walked away, and the name spoken rang in her mind as she processed and linked the final piece of the puzzle that she needed.

"Kabuto."

It made sense to Suki now. Orochimaru was out there, but he's nothing without Kabuto. That white-haired, glasses-wearing, leeching rat of man was never found or caught in the last three years. He must be the reason there was still so many ninja out there connected to the Sound and how Orochimaru was able to escape silently.

Orochimaru, Kabuto, the Sound, the village, the Akatsuki… Itachi. Suki had to get back to him. Tell him that Kimimaro is somehow still alive, and Kabuto was in the village. Who knows for how long or how much he has learned. Suki knew this was bad.

Suki stepped up to the cell door, but jumped back when Kimimaro appeared right on the other side again. "Stay," he commanded. "You will be safer here in the long run," he added.

"What? I don't care!" Suki exclaimed. "I have to leave, release me and no one has to know you let me go," she tried.

"I cannot do that," he stated simply then backed up to cough into his hand.

Suki's eyes narrowed down at him as she thought. "The report said you died that day, Kimimaro."

His coughing fit ended and he looked up at her slowly. "That is correct," he said.

"…Then how are you here?"

"I owe my life to Orochimaru twice now," he said. "Gaara of Sand and the young Leaf ninja known as Rock Lee did indeed see to my end during that mission to retrieve Sasuke… but Orochimaru still had use for me, for the five of us, so his right-hand Kabuto brought us back with a forbidden jutsu."

"Kabuto… has that power?" Suki felt her heart sink. If he could being ninja back to life, then that would me that even Orochimaru could come back if Kabuto somehow stayed alive like the cockroach that he is. Meaning, this battle would never be over…

"It's not power," Kimimaro corrected. "He calls it knowledge."

"Knowledge," Suki repeated. "That roach was always a smart one… if he's been alive and free all this time, I bet he had been studying us, hasn't he?"

Kimimaro nodded and Suki let out an aggravated breath. Kabuto just reached a whole new level of creepy, beyond that of a obsessed stalker.

Suki realized something. "Kabuto was the one that attacked me on my way home from work, wasn't he? And he took my ring," she wasn't asking, but Kimimaro nodded once again. At least he wasn't keeping any secrets. Not that a dead man would really care about that. He was just a willing pawn in Orochimaru's, and perhaps more like Kabuto's game. She wasn't sure who was really pulling the strings here. At the moment, Suki had another question at the front of her mind. "Why take my ring?"

"To show Itachi Uchiha," the white-haired man said blankly. "Proof, that he has you here, and thus at grave risk…" Suki's eyes widened and her hand covered her mouth.

"No," Suki muttered. "Itachi's gonna…"

"Dive head-first into enemy territory to try to save you, and yes, die as a result of his passionate rage," Kimimaro stated as if this was a fact, and predetermined by a higher force.

"No, he-he wouldn't…" Even as Suki tried to say it, she knew that this was probably the one thing in the world that could break Itachi's calm. Fluster and aggravate him just enough to make that one fatal mistake that Kabuto's keen analytic eyes would use against him.

"My orders are simple," Kimimaro began, and Suki already didn't like where this was heading as he pulled a knife made of bone from the back of his shoulder, his skin slipping off around the blade until fully unsheathed from his body. She had a feeling that Kimimaro was not here to guard her and make sure she didn't escape. "If the ring does not have the desired affect, I am to begin by removing your fingers to send to Itachi one by one, until he snaps."

Suki's eye's widened in horror and she backed up in her cell. This couldn't be happening. She squeeze her eyes shut as Kimimaro approached her cell, and she mentally called out to Itachi.

"_Itachi…"_

Kimimaro didn't bother with any locks or even opening the door, but instead presented a great display of his overwhelming power and busting right through the caged door with just his knife of bone.

"_Itachi help, I'm not strong enough against him…"_

Kimimaro slowly treaded closer to her as she slid down the wall, covering her ears with her hands and keeping her eyes closed. She knew how painful this was going to be.

"_Please, Itachi…"_

Kimimaro stopped in front of her shrinking form and raised his blade, ready to strike at her and whatever of her might be in the way.

Sensing his pause, something inside her forced her to open her eyes and gaze up at him. His raised arm quickly descended towards her as she sucked in what she prayed would not be her last breath.

"_Itachi!"_

* * *

**Author's Note**

Muh… ha… ha…

It's a cliff hanger. Being both a sequel story, and an OC-related story, I have to keep it extra interesting for you readers. This chapter also already hit its word count that I'm using for this story. So I'd appreciated if I don't get pelted with tomatoes for the cliffy.

The worst has yet to come. Stay tuned and review.


	5. The Battle Begins

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 5: The Battle Begins

As soon as the Akatsuki's meeting was over, Itachi was first to leave. He didn't fail to notice Sasori and Kisame begin to approach him with concern evident in their eyes, but he didn't want sympathies or his emotional state tested. Everyone in that meeting has someone in their lives that could have been targeted. Friends, family, or lovers. But out of everyone that could have been targeted, it was one of Itachi's bonds; his fiancée of only a few days now.

Minutes were passing too quickly for him to think of what to do, but to slowly for his anxieties. It was an awkward state to be in, but maybe now was the time to stop thinking and just act. He wanted to find Suki before anything happened to her. Even if she wasn't in immediate danger, which he knew wouldn't last, he didn't want her to be involved. She wasn't prepared for this.

Neither was he. It was bad enough after he found out what happened to his brother. How the Sound targeted him because Orochimaru wanted an Uchiha host. It was sick. Sasuke was lucky enough to have had his friends keeping such a close eye on him. Despite his friends being injured and Sasuke's metal state being questionable for a while after, everyone was alive and healed. Even then, Itachi knew that he wouldn't be that lucky again. He almost lost his brother. It might not work out the same for Suki.

Of course, there was a small thought in the back of his head that told him that was exactly why Suki was targeted. It was because of what Itachi had already experienced. He would be more concerned if it happened again.

Itachi's quick steps down the street were deathly silent, so while in deep thought, he was able to hear a slight rustle behind him.

"What?" Itachi stopped and glared into the darkness. He didn't care who it was, friend or enemy, he did not want to be bothered until he got his thoughts together.

"Perceptive as ever, I see," an intelligent and arrogant voice chuckled behind him.

Itachi didn't move, his senses were already zeroed in on the voice. "Kabuto," he stated bitterly. "I should have known…"

Kabuto must have known that it didn't matter where he stood since he stepped out the of the shadows and stood plainly before Itachi. He wore a dark hooded cloak and his glasses shined against the street lights. Even so, Itachi saw something strange about the man's eyes beyond his glasses. "So we meet again, Itachi," Kabuto started, "I've been waiting for this day."

"You've changed," Itachi stated causing Kabuto to smirk.

"So have you," he said. "You've become… soft."

Itachi glared and chose to ignore that statement, knowing exactly what Kabuto meant, and how true it was these days. Despite going soft over the years, he still had plenty of darkness in him, just waiting to come out. "…Where is she?" Itachi demanded calmly, though his hands were in tight fists.

Kabuto chuckled as if Itachi was joking, causing the latter's glare to darken. "Whatever do you mean?" Kabuto smirked.

"Kabuto…" Itachi warned, his eyes changing red with his three black nodes.

"Touchy, I wonder what could have caused that…" Kabuto put up his hands in a disarming way. "I simply came to you to return something valuable that you lost, and this is the thanks I get?"

Itachi wasn't going to put up with this any longer, he'd just have to find Suki without getting the information. He rose his hands into a familiar hand sign. "Amater–"

"Hold it!" Kabuto said quickly and held out a very familiar ring. "Don't you want to know where I got _this_!" The ring gleamed in the moonlight. There was no way Itachi's eyes could miss it.

Itachi lowered his hand slightly. "That's… Suki's! You DO have her! Where is she?" Itachi demanded.

"Safe," Kabuto said. "But perhaps not for much longer…" he smirked.

"Exchange?" Itachi guessed.

Kabuto's smirk dropped. "No."

Itachi's eye twitched. "Then what do you want from me?"

"There is nothing you can offer, not even yourself, that will free her," Kabuto stated. "You are to suffer."

Itachi frowned. Guess he had no choice but to be rash. Raising his hand again he called upon his power. "Amaterasu!" The black flames burst around Kabuto as Itachi's eye bled a small amount. Not hearing a scream of anguish that usually accompanies being burned alive, Itachi released the flames and found no sign of Kabuto. "Of course," he muttered. He knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"It's time, Uchiha," Kabuto's voice echoed from a distance. "Will you be able save your beloved in time?"

Itachi glared and deactivated his Sharingan. Damn Kabuto and his games. Itachi did not like being toyed with. What's worse was that Suki was in danger. As much as he hated to admit it, he had to act now or it might be too late by the time a plan and strategy is put into action.

Rage started to boil over inside him. Letting out a scream of frustration, he punched the ground, cracking it in several directions.

"Damn it," he cursed. "What do I do?" he muttered. He thought about what Kabuto last said. "Time for what?"

Standing, Itachi turned back the way he came. This was something he had to report to the others right away. The charge in the air was almost tangible. He knew what this meant. He had to convince the others to act right away.

There was a war to stop, and he would go alone if he had to.

* * *

Suki waited for pain, but felt nothing. Was it over? Did it happen so fast that she didn't feel anything before she died?

She cautiously opened her eyes. She could see her feet in the darkness, still right under her when she slid towards the ground against the back wall over her cell. Nothing happened. Was time just moving that slowly?

Then she saw something in front of her feet. It was the bone knife. What?

She was even more confused when she heard retreating footsteps. Looking up, she found Kimimaro walking away. Suki quickly checked both her hands, making sure she still had all her fingers. Ten, check.

"W-w-what?" Suki stuttered confused.

"The chakra strings altering your own chakra paths have been cut, you are able to bend your own chakra to your will again," he said.

"You're freeing me?"

"I cannot grant your freedom," he said cryptically as he left through the broken cell door.

"I don't get it," she said mostly to herself.

He must have heard her, because he had stopped just outside her cell and looked back at her for a moment. "Treason will let me die by the ones that took me away from my peace…" Leaning against the wall, he folded his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. "I will warn you that the others won't feel the same," he said. "Even if you do make it back, it won't matter, there's an army heading there already. Orochimaru rigged every single body that was going to fight in the Leaf to explode. Even if they die, they can still destroy the Leaf. Orochimaru is going to win. Sad that it has to happen this way…" he sighed.

Suki's eyes narrowed as she consumed this information. Why was he even telling her? Was he that sure she was going to die? Was it even the truth? No matter, she was sure as hell taking this chance to escape.

Leaving her cell, she cautiously moved around Kimimaro, in case he attacked and this was some sick trick to get her hopes up. He made no move so she continued down the left corridor of the tunnel. Once she was comfortable with taking her eyes off the white-haired undead man, she took off in a sprint.

She was determined to get home and tell the others of what she had learned. There was going to be no time to waste.

Just as she concluded that thought and grounded her determination, she realized what Kimimaro had meant about her freedom. The further she traveled through the tunnel, the more lights that were lit, which meant there were other people here, and she would likely have to fight her way out.

Her heart thudded in her ears, so she couldn't hear much else and relied on instinct and training to get her through the sudden onslaught of ninja that attacked her. Weapons, punches, and kicks came at her rapidly, but she evaded and dodged while keeping up her momentum and hurling her own quick jabs into their necks, backs, and pressure points. One by one, an increasing number fell either numb or unconscious.

"Frozen Breath," Suki said as she made a hand sign and froze their bodies with a gentle breath. She did a quick count. Thirteen ninja. Not bad. She thought she would have gone rusty over the years.

With no time to waste she continued until she found a way out, only stopping when she was attacked again right outside. This time she was not so discreet in her own attacks, using her chakra to stop them in their tracks with another freezing air jutsu.

Panting, she refocused her energy to her legs and feet so she could run away and hide until she could gather her bearings and figure out where she is and where she needed to go in order to get back to the village.

Satisfied once she was deep enough in some woods, she stopped on the ground and sat against a tree. Okay, maybe she was a little rusty in the running fast and hard department. She would take a little break there before finding her way home. Her stomached clenched painfully as she calmed down, hunger making itself apparent as she forced herself to relax. That would have to wait though. Once she is confident she won't pass out from exerting herself, she had to keep running.

* * *

Itachi hastily reentered Konan's shop, causing the bell on the door to chime loudly. Luckily, the others were only just starting to leave, as they all looked at him when he burst in after only leaving minutes ago.

"I need to use the phone," Itachi stated as he didn't wait for permission and stepped around the counter and grabbed it, quickly punching in a familiar number. As the phone rang on the other side, he ignored everyone's questionable stares.

"Something wrong?" Kisame asked, but Itachi held up one finger, silently telling him to wait.

Finally someone answered on the other end. "Sasuke, it's me, your brother," Itachi started after his brother answered the phone back home. "Is Mom or Father home?"

Raven and Sasori looked at each other before looking back at Itachi, wondering what was going on.

"No, that's fine. I'm going have Shisui take you someplace safe, okay?" Itachi said and the eavesdroppers began to feel alarmed, knowing that something must have happened. "No, don't worry about it, but I need to do something so I'll come see you later myself… no, it's not official business, Sasuke." Itachi sighed, knowing that Sasuke had some clue of what Itachi was involved in, and hoped he would understand. "Yes, I'm coming back, I promise, don't worry about me… love you too." Sighing again, Itachi hung up the phone and waited a few seconds before picking it up again and dialing another number, this one he had to think about a little more.

"What's going on?" Sasori asked the others.

"I think Itachi's on to something big, yeah," Deidara said.

"If Sasuke might be at risk, then Orochimaru must be involved," Raven said. "Suki is already in danger, I don't think he's confident he'd be able to save two people."

"This day just keeps getting better," Sasori added.

"It doesn't help that Orochimaru has personal issues with Itachi, un," Deidara said.

"And whose fault is that?" Raven questioned. Deidara wasn't sure what to say, but before he could think of something, Raven answered for him. "Not Suki's, that's for sure," she said and everyone looked away, slightly guilty. "She's been caught in this mess and it's going to be fixed," she stated firmly.

"Well…" Deidara began, but Raven glared at him, which caused him to take a step back.

"This is _will_ be _fixed_, got it?" Raven pressed.

Sasori placed his arm around his fiancée's shoulders and drew her close to him, forcing an end to her threatening advances on his friend. They don't need to start fighting amongst themselves after all. "Are you okay?" he muttered by her ear, but received no answer. Ironically, that was an answer he understood.

Itachi hung up the phone after speaking with Shisui and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, we have a lot of work to do, and we no longer have any time."

"What did you find out?" Pain questioned.

"Kabuto has Suki, and yes, he has proof, he showed me her ring before he got away," Itachi said.

"Kabuto?" Raven repeated. "I remember him, he had some thugs attack Suki and I three years ago."

"Yeah, I was there, saw the whole thing," Hidan added.

"He was probably assessing your strength," Pain closed his eyes. "He does that."

"There's something else," Itachi started. "He said, 'it's time', so we have to do something now."

They were silent for a second, knowing what Itachi was getting at. "What do you think, Itachi?" Pain asked.

"I think we don't have a choice, we have to go after Kabuto and Orochimaru," he answered. "Now."

"What about the rest?" Sasori asked. "All that activity up north?"

"First we should go north," Raven said. "If we get ready now, we can regroup at the north gate in ten minutes and discuss further details, I don't know about you guys, but I'm not fully armed and all this talk is making be feel like I should be."

"You are right," Pain said and then directed everyone. "Be there and ready in ten minutes, I will have a plan by then."

"Right," everyone nodded.

* * *

Ten minutes was all it took to prepare. Pain was last to arrive, barely being on time. They were all wearing matching jackets. Black with red and white clouds. It was Pain's design and it united them as an organization, and not just a gang like in the old days. The jackets had popped collars and hidden pockets. Each one was designed for the wearer to fit them to their preference.

"Have you come up with a strategy?" Konan asked, to which Pain nodded.

"Yes, since we have no idea what we might be up against, we will all go to the Northern Outpost, I have an ally there," Pain looked over everyone before continuing, making sure they would hear him. "Our group is small, but powerful and large enough to split up," he said. They knew where he was going with this. Just like old times. Teams of two. "You know who has your back, so we will work in pairs and spread out."

"What else?" Zetsu asked.

"I will wait until we get there to tell you the next part, we don't know what might happen with Kabuto's hands in this mess," Pain said.

"Right," they each said understanding that a solid plan now might not help if they run into trouble. Knowing they had to get moving quickly, they were off into the darkness of midnight heading out the north gate.

Even the light of the moon was blocked by clouds, leaving little illumination for their travel. This meant they had to be extra careful at the high pace. Mines, traps, animals, and poisonous plants were all dangers of bad footing, even just off the main road where they would remain hidden from other travelers. Though, there didn't seem to be any other people on the road at all.

Sasori stopped for only a second by the road to scan the surrounding area before resuming his pace to keep with the others. It was odd for there to be absolutely nothing. Was the road blocked off up ahead? It shouldn't be. The northern road out of the village was one of the most commonly used.

As they traveled further, the feelings of uncertainly increased. Not even animals were making noises. No wind rustled the leaves of the forest. What was this silence? It made their stealth difficult. There was no other sound to cover up their ever so soft landings in the trees or the rustle of their clothes and hair as they leapt to the next tree.

Arriving at the Northern Outpost, the gang waited while Pain snuck in to find his ally. They only waited a minute before he returned with a puzzled expression.

"What is it?" Konan asked him.

"It's empty, no one's here at all," he answered.

"Was everyone that was stationed here killed?" Kisame asked, looking up and seeing no lights coming from within.

Pain shook his head. "I wouldn't know, the place is completely empty, like no one's been here for days, if not longer," he said.

"…Great," Sasori muttered. They knew very well that this was a very bad sign.

"Now what?" Itachi asked, eager to get a move on.

"The moon," Raven said looking off into the distance. The clouds broke, revealing the moon and letting it's light shine around them.

"Uh… what's that?" Deidara asked, looking over in another direction.

"What's what?" Tobi looked as well. "Uh-oh…" he said just as the rest looked.

In the dark they would see what it was. It was an army, and they were approaching. They were going to the village.

"Time to split up," Pain said quickly. "The village ranks will find out about this soon enough, until then, we hold them off and keep them from getting to the village. If we stop it altogether, then fine."

Itachi stepped forward. "I can take the frontline," he said, he wanted to press forward and hopefully get closer to Suki in the process.

"I've got your back," Kisame said, lifting his sword and grinning.

Pain nodded and looked over the others. "Hidan and Kazuku will follow up and sweep to the west of that army, don't let anyone escape or take the western route around the outpost," Pain ordered.

"You got it," Hidan said while his partner nodded in understanding.

"Myself and Konan will do the same, but on the eastern side," Pain said looking at Konan, who simply nodded. "Deidara and Sasori will secure the outpost itself, it should provide good cover for your fighting styles, if messages come into the outpost, tell the village you're under attack as an outpost guard."

"I can set up landmines all around the place," Deidara said, and Pain nodded. Sasori looked at Raven, but she didn't say anything, too focused on the plan, so he squeezed her hand quickly and stepped away from her to join his partner.

"Zetsu and Tobi will follow up behind as the last line of defense and if any aid is needed ahead. If you see that the army is being driven away, make sure no one got past the rest of us and come join the rest," he instructed. "Zetsu is best with recon, but we would have needed a head start on this one to make more use of that, still, if you find anything, report it as always," he added and they both nodded. Pain gave the signal, a simple gesture with his hand, and each team disappeared, leaving behind only three.

"You have something else for me, don't you?" Raven questioned, being the only one without an order and left standing there with Pain and Konan.

"Yes, and I had to make sure Itachi was unaware," he said. "Normally you would be teamed with Suki, but… so for now your long-ranged abilities can be more useful from the other side."

"You want me to infiltrate?"

"Take to shadows, one person will be harder to spot, especially if they know we work in pairs, which if Kabuto is as thorough as I remember, I'm sure they do."

"So arrows to the backs of their heads, got it," Raven said, adjusting both her compound bow and crossbow positioned on her back.

"Also, if you can," Pain added. "Find Suki. Get someone to take you to her. The further in you get, the closer you might be to her, as well as the snake and rat. I am not sure if it will be worth trying, but if you get a clear shot, take it. If you do or do not find Suki or an enemy base, return to the outpost and help."

"…I understand, maybe our cards will be played right and Kabuto will get an arrow between the eyes," Raven said. "Is that all?"

"You will not be able to hunt them," Pain explained.

"Okay, get Suki and if I run into the leaders, do what I can," she summed up, and he nodded. "No time to waste then." With that she disappeared as well.

Konan looked at Pain, "Why did you not want Itachi to hear Raven's orders?"

"His mind is unclear, he wants to dive in and save Suki right now, by taking the frontline he thinks he'll be first into enemy territory."

"But Raven will," Konan observed.

"Itachi's power is better focused on the frontline, he will push forward instead of sneak by. Let Raven find her friend, Itachi's vengeful passion can better help us put an end to this."

Konan nodded. She wasn't sure if this was morally right, but she understood the logic behind it. "Do you really think Raven might run into the leaders?"

"It is possible, for now, let us join our team, we also have work to do," he said and Konan nodded before they both disappeared together.

On the frontline, Kisame and Itachi met the army head on. The two of them were a forced to be reckoned with. Their mere presence stopped many sound ninja in their tracks, but this didn't last long. Before any order was given, the battle had begun.

Kisame swung his swords broadly, blocking all attacks as he went before going on the offensive and striking down more than a dozen ninja in one swing.

Itachi made a hand sign and closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again and activating a higher level Sharingan. "Amateratsu!" he said and set more than a dozen ninja on fire. Unlike the last time he used it earlier that night, he heard many screams of terror and death.

One ninja thought he had caught Itachi by surprised, but was trapped in genjutsu.

Every Akatsuki pair was taking on numbers far greater than they thought they would. Then something strange happened. First, Kisame lifted his mighty blade to block an attack and found that his ninja had strength that far surpassed anything he should have ever been capable of.

Wait. Hadn't he slain that ninja already? No, it must have been a clone or someone else.

Then he realized something important. Where were the bodies?

Looking down where a victim slashed fatally across the chest laid dead, he watched as the ninja regenerate and stood back up. With only a few seconds of pause, that same ninja attacked him again, but this time, his attack was stronger. Even Kisame had a hard time repelling it.

"Itachi!" Kisame shouted. "They're not dying! They are undead! Every time I kill one, he just gets back up even stronger!"

Things just went from bad, to worse.

Itachi's bloody eyes widened for a moment in shock, but he had to quickly turn back and block an attack with his arms. The attack was so powerful, Itachi's feet sunk into the stone-like ground while he protected his face. His block was successful, but if came with great injury. Then the attacking ninja leaped away, Itachi's arms fell to his sides and blood dripped to the ground at his fingertips. His arms were broken and, without a medic, rendered useless.

Itachi cursed in both pain and anger while Kisame also cursed, knowing how much that probably hurt and that now Itachi's jutsu was limited without the ability to make hand signs. Seeing what happened and knowing that Itachi was no delicate flower, Kisame made sure to not try to do anything like that himself.

Before Itachi could be attacked again, he summoned Susanoo to protect him and fight. He panted and looked around. Finally, some bodies were staying down. Now to figure out why.

Looking towards Kisame with his Sharingan, Itachi saw something important. "Kisame, they aren't getting stronger! We are getting weaker! You're chakra, it's different!"

And worse just became severe.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Guess this one is sort of a cliff hanger too. Again, I went over the chapter word count that I'm trying to stick to and had to stop somewhere, otherwise this chapter could have been twice as long.

Things are happening fast. Hope the guys can handle it.

Until next time. Review on whatever.

Now to hide from any tomatoes thrown at me because of another cliff hanger.


	6. Die Trying

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 6: Die Trying

Sasori tapped his fingers impatiently on a table inside the outpost while Deidara tried to get the phone to work. They weren't really surprised when they first tried to pick it up and nothing happened. They could already hear the battles outside in the distance. Hopefully the others can hold them off long enough to get some sort of message through to the village.

"Before the army gets here would be great," Sasori muttered.

"The damn thing isn't working, un!" Deidara glared back at his partner.

Sasori stood up and took the phone. "Go check outside while I try to reestablish a connection with chakra stings," he said.

Deidara groaned, but did as he was told and climbed up a ladder to get to the top of the outpost which provided a high view of the surrounding area. From there he would be able to see each team in the darkness with his mechanical eye device.

Sasori sent a chakra sting through the phone, hoping to find where it was broken or even get through. Focusing for about a minute, he then frowned. It was futile.

Just as he put the phone down, Deidara yelled at him, but Sasori had no idea what he was saying. Sasori raised an eyebrow as he moved to the ladder. He climbed the first few rails before the building shook suddenly and a loud bang was heard from outside, causing Sasori to get thrown from the ladder just before it fell completely.

Concerned and pissed that Deidara released a bomb right on top of the outpost. Sasori focused chakra to his feet and jumped up to the roof and see what was going on. The moment he landed, another explosion had him taking cover before he could see Deidara.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Sasori shouted at the other man.

Deidara whipped around to glare at the red-head. "It's not me!"

Sasori knew that this meant Kabuto had planned well. He looked all around, but didn't get much time to locate the other teams before he sensed danger. Looking upward, he saw kunai falling from the blackened sky like rain. They were able to block the first wave with their own weapons.

Deidara focused his mechanical eye to look beyond the kunai and noticed something. "Sasori!" he shouted as he blocked a few more kunai so they wouldn't imbed in his skull. "The next wave has paper bombs attached!"

Sasori cursed and pulled a scroll from inside his jacket and letting it fly open in one motion as he placed his kunai between his teeth so he could release a puppet from the scroll. It came forth with a puff of smoke and he was already manipulating it before the smoke even cleared. Jumping over to his partner, he had the puppet shield them both.

Unfortunately, many of the paper bombs still landed on the outpost and the ceiling caved in. The moment they felt their footing becoming unstable, they leapt away and onto the ground behind the outpost, and used the building's walls to shield them while they gathered their bearings.

They ran along the walls as they blocked from falling kunai and bombs. Whoever was hurling all those things at them was nowhere to be seen, and Deidara wasn't given enough time to scout. He had tried to fly up on a clay bird to get above the aerial pursuit, but he didn't get far before he was targeted and he was unable to save his bird, letting it crumble to the ground in masses of clay.

As Deidara fell from the sky, Sasori managed to catch him by attaching chakra strings to him and pulling him out the way of another bomb that hit the wall instead, bringing down more of the building.

Unsure what to do, they hid using one of Sasori's other creations as cover. Deidara had both his hands working up his clay and Sasori caught a glimpse of Deidara's supplies. He could have sworn that the blond man would have brought more than that. The idiot.

Sasori pulled another scroll from his jacket and summoned up a few more puppets. He wasn't sure what good it would do right now, since their attackers were long ranged. At least he wouldn't be completely defenseless when something else landed on him, which didn't take long.

Another explosive landed right on the puppet protecting them and while the shield kept them from getting hurt too badly they were still sent for a tumble.

As soon as they were standing again, they knew without saying anything that it was time to go on the offensive, even if it meant fighting blindly.

Chakra stings, puppets, and clay bombs of several shapes scattered. This appeared to one of those rare instances where fighting blind was better than not fighting at all. At the very least, they would hold their ground or die trying protect everyone.

* * *

Blood leaked from Itachi's eyes as he used his Susanoo. The dark demon-like aura that surrounded and protected him from attacks also took its toll on the user. Ever since his arms were broken, Itachi placed many of the enemy under genjutsu in the Tsukuyomi which either knocked them out or simply subdued them. Unfortunately, his chakra was not unlimited and all the jutsu being held constant weighed heavily on him.

Itachi captured one of the enemy ninja in the Tsukuyomi, who was tortured again and again until he cracked and he revealed something they didn't know before. Something that made Itachi feel like a fool. Killing the ninja with Susanoo, along with a few more, he turned to Kisame.

"We were the target!" Itachi shouted.

"What?" Kisame honestly couldn't hear over everything else that was going on, not to mention the explosions that kept sounding near the outpost.

Itachi used Susanoo to draw Kisame into its protective barrier. "The Sound's first mission was to destroy the Akatsuki, we walked right into a trap, everything was planned to happen this way!"

Kisame was shocked and then sighed, also feeling like a fool. "Send a message to the others, I'll keep holding these guys off!" Leaving the Susanoo, Kisame jumped right back into slaying and re-slaying his opponents when they happened to be the ones that were able to get back up.

Itachi summoned crows and sent them away to his friends. There was no guarantee the crows would make it through the chaos, but they had to try. If by some chance he and his friends made it out of this to regroup, they could rework their strategy somehow. For now, all that mattered was survival so they could keep fighting.

If the number of opponents appeared to be decreasing at all, he wouldn't be worrying much, however, that was not the case. The dull throbbing in his arms from the broken bones and the blood dripping past his fingertips only reminded him further of his situation. Without the use of his arms, he would have to solely rely on his eyes.

Itachi glanced at Kisame, who seemed to be holding his own despite harboring a few of his own wounds. It would be bad if Itachi had to protect someone else right now. The blood leaking from his eyes was proof enough that he was already pushing his limits and straining his Sharingan. He would have never guessed this would happen.

"How did this happen?" Itachi whispered to himself, just before the Susanoo roared and blocked another wave of attacks on him. There was no time to ponder.

* * *

Sasori and Deidara were drove back against what was left of the outpost as they took cover from more explosions that came from an unknown source.

"I told you to bring more clay!" Sasori gritted, "I thought you said you knew what you were doing!"

Deidara whipped around for a moment to glare at the red-headed puppet master. "How was I supposed to know they would also have a bomb specialist? They're hurling those things out of a canon or something, I can't tell where they're coming from or where they are!"

"You better find out fast, I've already lost two of my puppets to guard against those things!" Sasori retorted.

Deidara was about to comment when they had to shield themselves from another explosion and flying debris. Sasori used his puppets to act as shields while Deidara ducked down and worked up his clay in the pouches that hung at his hips.

Sasori released some chakra strings from a few now useless parts of his puppet, not wanting to waste energy trying to put it back together in the midst of the chaos. He wasn't so sure he'd get the chance to put his precious creations back to together afterwards either.

Sasori's eyes flicked around, trying to locate the next incoming bomb, when he heard a whistle of one coming from above. Whatever it was, it was big.

Quickly, Sasori looked at Deidara, who was still trying to create an decent offense with what was left of his clay. With no time to warn his companion, Sasori tackled Deidara to the ground and shielded them both from the explosion that landed right on top of them, destroying both the landscape and the building that served as cover, while burying them in the debris.

From beneath the rubble, Sasori was able to lift a good amount off of him and his companion using his puppet and chakra strings. There, among the rubble, Sasori saw the image of chaos around them on the battlefield. There was no one else around and everything had happened so quickly. They weren't prepared for something like this.

"How did this happen?" Sasori muttered to himself and then winced painfully before dropping to his knees and collapsing in freshly spilled blood.

"Sasori!" Deidara called out to him while kneeling next to him. "Oh man, this doesn't look good…"

Sasori wasn't sure what Deidara was talking about, all he knew was there was a pain in his chest and he suddenly felt like his life force was leaving him, leaving him weak and unable to support his legs any longer. He didn't know what just happened.

The next thing they knew, Sasori's chakra strings gave away and everything he was controlling fell into heaps.

"W-what?" Sasori questioned as he looked down to the source of his pain. There was something weird sticking out of his chest. It took him a long moment to realize he had been impaled by a pipe. Blood then leaked from his mouth, joining the growing puddle below him.

"Are you… okay?" Deidara asked, fully aware it was a stupid question with the way his companion had been a impaled and was currently staring at the object.

"…So this is how it ends for me, huh?" Sasori said making Deidara's eyes grow wide.

Deidara took action and released a swarm of clay bombs in the shape of small birds that would seek and destroy any other type of bomb for a little while. He used this as an opportunity to try to help the red-head. Gripping the pipe, he began to pull it out, but it caused Sasori to release a painful sound as more blood gushed out from around the wound. Changing his mind, Deidara applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding.

"Don't worry man, I'm sure help is on the way by now," he tried. "It's just a scratch."

Sasori smirked at Deidara's efforts and then sucked in a ragged breath as it was becoming harder to breath. The explosions from the bombs were lighting up the sky like fireworks, just not as pretty.

"Hey, I have some final requests of you," Sasori stated.

"Hey-hey-hey, what did I just say? You're not dying out here, man," Deidara said.

"Just tell Raven I'm sorry we can't get married after all," he said and sucked in another breath. "And tell my grandmother not to be upset about my will, I didn't think she'd outlive me."

"I won't have to do that, Sasori," Deidara pressed. "You're going to make it."

Sasori barely chuckled as his breathing become more shallow. "I was going to keep my heart."

"What are you talking about?" the blond asked, mainly to keep Sasori awake and talking.

"Remember, in order to become a puppet myself, I'd have to keep my heart and a few other parts in that container that would remain in my chest in order to have chakra… ironic that if I had done that, I would be dead from his wound already." Sasori closed his eyes and Deidara lifted one of his bloody hands to smack the red-head's face, causing Sasori to slowly open them again.

"Hey, no going to sleep, un," he commanded.

"Sorry," Sasori breathed, his eyes were struggling to stay open, but they drifted shut anyway.

"Hey," Deidara smacked him again, but Sasori didn't open his eyes again. "Hey!" he tried again, but nothing was happening. There was no response so he checked for a pulse and sighed.

Deidara let go of his friend and looked up. His birds were doing there job, but they wouldn't hold out for much longer as they blew up one by one to take out the incoming bombs.

Deidara got close to what was left of the outer walls of the outpost and hid in the shadows as he moved. Sasori wasn't dead quite yet, but as long as he left Sasori alone and got further away, the enemy might focus their attacks on only him.

He got around the outpost when a crow appeared in the sky. He briefly wondered if it was a stealth bomb, but they he recognized it as Itachi's messenger crow. Deidara was surprise one even made it all the way to his location.

Without waiting, Deidara raised two fingers and flared his chakra slightly, causing the crow to go straight to him. Before the bird reached him, it separated into a mass of feathers which floated in the air to create a coded message.

He read it, and then smacked his forehead. As the feathers disappeared, Deidara looked over the battlefield using his eye device to see the great distances in the dark. "Well that explains why there haven't been any trying to get passed us yet. Each group that escapes is just moving to another one of our teams. It's… brilliant," Deidara frowned. Seeing this didn't do him much good, but he didn't have a way to contact the others since that was up to Sasori and he out of commission right now.

Just when bombs, small and big, starting hitting the ground again, Deidara took off running. His hands were in his clay pouches, and he cursed finding that there wasn't much left. He was going to have to do something big on his own with the last of it soon.

"If I go out, it'll be with a bang either way," Deidara smirked. "Might as well make it my own. Sasori, you're going to miss the art show of a lifetime, un," he grinned.

* * *

Kisame and Itachi both got sent flying along with debris when a strange explosion came out of nowhere. It was enough to cause Itachi to nearly lose all his focus and his Susanoo disappeared along with a large chunk of genjutsu he had been using. It took a great deal of focus not to lose all of it when he was send for a tumble.

"Itachi, focus!" Kisame shouted when he saw Itachi standing slowly with a bleeding forehead.

Itachi wanted to check his forehead and even wipe the blood from his eyes, but his arms were still handing limply at his sides. He was in a lot of pain, but he had to keep fighting. There was nowhere he could escape as it was. Fighting was the only option besides death, and he would fight until he was beyond dead.

Focusing on his Sharingan, he captured dozens in genjutsu, causing them to fight each other.

"Yes," he muttered to himself. He even separated the ones he had under genjutsu from the ones Kisame fought, so Kisame wouldn't knock them out of the genjutsu.

Then Itachi recognized some of the faces as ones that got away earlier. He hated this. These weird ninja were coming back to fight after most likely confronting the Akatsuki's other teams. This was getting them nowhere and he couldn't think of something he could do that would work against those freaky invincible Sound ninja.

Another explosion ruptured the ground nearby, causing sharp rocks flying everywhere. Both Kisame and Itachi cursed from the resulting cuts they endured as they got sent to the ground. The explosion even killed a couple Sound ninja.

Itachi didn't feel much pain as he stood back up without using his arms, so he was confused when he fell back to his knees and had a wet feeling down his back. Looking down, he saw blood running down his legs.

Then he started coughing and spit up some blood. Kisame saw all the blood that was covering his comrade and moved closer to Itachi to fend off his attackers.

"You should get out of here, Itachi," Kisame said. "You've got blood coming out of you all over the place and you're staining those eyes of yours, if you stay like this much longer, I'm gonna have to carry your corpse home when his is all over."

Itachi tried to say something, but coughed instead, causing Kisame to look directly at him and consider if his warning was too late.

"…N-no…" Itachi managed to say as his vision blurred and he fell to the ground again as he passed out from blood loss.

"Itachi's genjutsu!" Kisame said as dozens of Sound ninja came to their senses and all looked at him as prey. "Well, Partner, looks like we've got our work cut out for us," Kisame said to his sword. "Can't give up or die without a fight though, so bring it on…"

* * *

Raven passed through the trees unnoticed. The darkness and the foliage were more than enough to conceal her. Pain's orders were clear to her, but it was up to her to decide what to do. Still, she'd let the guys find and kill the Sound, she had a friend to find.

Sweeping past a particularly covered area, Raven stopped in the shadows to look back towards it. She had a feeling something might be hiding in there. There was nothing she could ignore at such a time, so she cautiously approached the foliage with a kunai ready.

Looking through, she couldn't believe it. "Suki?" Raven said, causing the other woman to jump in surprise and whip around to see her. Suki had been peeking through the leaves on the opposite side of her hiding place.

"Raven? How?" Suki questioned, but when Raven was about to answer she held up a hand to stop her. "Wait, the security phrase…"

Raven nodded seriously. With all the crazy things that can happen in this world, they had to be sure they really are who they appear to be and not an imposter. "The moon influences the tides," Raven recited.

Suki looked relieved. "It looks like snow in the mountains," she replied, to which Raven nodded.

"I've been looking for you," Raven said as she came closer and they both ducked down and looked out.

"I've been trying to get home after my escape, but all those Sound ninja started coming and I had to hide," Suki explained.

"The battle already started," Raven said. "Everyone is out there."

"Oh no!" Suki gasped. "But I have something very important to tell you!"

"What is it?"

"The Sound, they… Orochimaru did something to them, like they're dead but not," Suki tried to explain.

"Zombies…" Raven deadpanned.

"And that's not all…" Suki began to explain everything else she'd learned.

* * *

Out on the battlefield each of the teams were slowly being drawn back together near the outpost. Tobi had joined with Deidara and they were covering each other from attacks.

"Look out!" Tobi shouted while Deidara ate some clay and kunai flew straight for him. Before Deidara could move out of the way, a familiar puppet blocked the attack and countered.

"That show-off," Deidara grumbled. "Sasori's dying way over there and he still managed to save my ass, humph."

Looking around, Deidara realized that more Sound ninja were actually within range now and the bombs from the sky had stopped. He also found that his comrades were actually much closer together now. He didn't like this, he had a bad feeling.

"Deidara-sempai, Tobi thinks we're being pushed into a trap," Tobi said when he was close enough for the blond to hear.

"Yeah, I think so too, Tobi," Deidara said.

"What are you guys doing out here?" Kisame jumped into the battle nearby.

"Us? What are you doing way over here?" Deidara exclaimed.

"I had to draw them away from Itachi, he's out right now," Kisame explained, still fighting off Sound ninja.

"These freaks just won't stay down!" Hidan's voice came from nearby. It appeared the Akatsuki were now much closer together already.

Deidara spat out the clay he had been working on and attached small clay spiders to the backs or shoulders of every ninja that came within range.

Then he raised his two fingers about to detonate the bombs, but then something else happened.

* * *

Raven and Suki were racing back to the outpost. They didn't even bother to stick to the shadows anymore, but it seemed like they didn't have to. The Sound ninja were no longer in the trees, meaning they must all be in the battle.

Every single Sound ninja, alive, dead, or zombie was rigged to explode. The exposition would be so great it would wipe out the outpost. Then another wave of sound ninja, plus the ones was have been resurrected would attack the village and do the same thing.

This was terrible and the others had to be warned before that happened.

Just as they reached the last of the trees and the outpost was in site, there was a bright flash of light that temporarily blinded the girls just before they heard a massive explosion. They shielded themselves from the shock and then blinked away the bright spots in their vision to see the great cloud of smoke raising up into the air like a tree or a mushroom.

"We were too late!" Suki cried out.

"Hurry," Raven said as they both ran towards the dissipating cloud.

The aftermath was horrific. It was like a field of death and carnage with the body and limps scattered everywhere. It took a minute before they found their friends.

Pain, Konan, and Tobi were slowly getting up, somehow managing not to be too heavily injured still weak. There was parts of Hidan everywhere, his head was groaning and complaining that he didn't feel so good. Deidara was missing both his arms, but was still conscious. Kisame was laying unconscious with a throat wound. Zetsu and Kakuzu were nowhere to be seen.

It didn't take long for them to find Sasori and Itachi, who weren't in good shape at all. Suki lifted Itachi's bloodied form onto her lap and tried to coax him awake, but he remained unconscious. She even wiped the blood from his face and moved his hair out of way. He was breathing and responding slightly to her words and touches, but wasn't waking up.

Sasori looked like he was on the edge of death. His chest still impaled, but now sporting a missing leg below the knee that was bleeding harshly from the freshness of the wound. It was a mystery how he was awake let alone alive.

"Raven," Sasori whispered when she found him. She kneeled down next to him and before she could say anything he began again. "The first vile in my coat, take it," he breathed out.

Raven lifted his jacket and saw a vile of an almost glowing violet liquid. "What is it?" she asked gently.

"It's a… special poison… used Orochimaru's DNA from… when we worked together… he's immune to all other toxins so… just be careful with it," he explained slowly.

She griped the vile in one hand and took his hand her other. "I understand, but how are you holding up?"

Sasori managed a smirk. "It looks a lot worse than it feels," he admitted faintly. "Don't worry… 'bout me, just kill that…" he couldn't say anything else.

"Sure Sasori," she whispered. He passed out again before she let go of him. She tied up what was left of his leg to slow the bleeding, hoping it would give him a fighting chance, but she knew what his odds were right now. She was sure the village was aware of that massive explosion and would be out to investigate shortly. Hopefully they would have a medic that can save him and the others.

Returning to the others, she tried to patched them up too, while Tobi collected all the pieces of Hidan and gathered him into a pile. Hidan continued to groan and complain about being blown up by bunch of kamikaze ninja.

Suki returned as well after she put some ice on Itachi's wounds. She knew he was going to be in so much pain when he woke up.

Pain approached them both while holding his wounded side. "I need you to get captured again," he said.

"What?" Raven and Suki questioned.

"We can't fight anymore, and the second wave of the attack is going to start soon. Not only will we die here, but the village will go through what we just did," he explained. "If you get captured, you can get close to Orochimaru, where you can take him out," he said.

Raven and Suki looked at each other. Then Raven pulled the glowing violet poison from her jacket. "I think that might just work…" she said.

Looking out over the aftermath of the battlefield, they knew they would succeed or die trying.

* * *

**Author's Note**

The main battle has been concluded and the teaser from chapter one has been revealed. I won't reveal who lives and who dies yet though. Can you handle that? Heh, heh, heh…


	7. Going Back

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 7: Going Back

"I can't believe I have to go back to that creepy place," Suki whimpered as she and Raven traveled towards the woods. "I wanted to stay with my poor Itachi!"

"I know, I know," Raven sighed. "But soon the direct attack on the village will start with the Akatsuki out of the way, if that happens…"

"I know… I just…" Suki trailed off remembering Itachi's bloodied and battered form laying unconscious. His back covered in deep gashes, both his arms obviously broken, bleeding from a minor wound on his forehead, a couple scrapes on his face, and blood all over his face from his eyes. He was in horrible condition and there was nothing she could do for him besides close up the wound on his head with some minor healing jutsu. She wouldn't be surprised if he lost his life out here. The blood loss was already too much for the human body to handle and he shut down.

However, she knew that she and her companion were the last of the Akatsuki that weren't in bad shape or heavily wounded. It was up to them now and that thought alone was frightening without considering who they were up against.

Raven rubbed at her tired eyes trying not to think about all the blood, especially Sasori's slim chances of living much longer. He had suffered two wounds that each alone could be his end. As if getting stabbed in the chest wasn't bad enough, the massive final explosion separated him from one of his legs. When he spoke to her, she could tell in his eyes that there was so much more he wanted to say. He didn't have to say it though, they both knew it, and she understood his silent words clearly.

As they walked, they didn't hide themselves at all. The goal was to let themselves get captured and taken directly to Orochimaru as the last survivors of the Akatsuki. Then they would attempt to finish the job and end his life. The same went for Kabuto, who would still be a major threat on his own.

"Oh, I hate this, why…" Suki whispered and shook her head before stopping suddenly. Raven looked at her and froze as well. "Did you hear-" before she could finish her question they were surrounded by a handful of Sound ninja. "Never mind," Suki frowned.

"We are the sole survivors of the Akatsuki," Raven lied. That was all it took for the Sound to capture them. They put up a little bit of fight, but in the end allowed their hands to be bound behind their backs and led away.

"Don't know how they survived the first strike," one captor said to another.

"Doesn't matter," another said. "The Master wanted us to take any to him, so we don't have to wonder about those things."

Raven and Suki remained silent as the other Sound ninja talked and argued over this and that. "Are you sure we have to take them back with us? I didn't think there was girls in the Akatsuki," someone said behind Raven.

"Idiot, Kabuto reported three females. Remember when he said that they were all romantically involved with other members?"

"Oh yeah."

One of the Sound ninja that was talking put an arm around Suki and grinned. "So which one was yours, ma'am?" he chuckled. Suki simply looked away defiantly. "Oh, tight lipped are we? How about I guess?" he laughed.

"Dude, you're actually making a game outta which one nailed them?" the other laughed.

"Don't make it sound like that, I'm just curious which Akatsuki punks were actually mushy enough to commit to these chicks," he said and looked back at Suki. She was still pointedly looking in another direction. He looked at her closely up and down several times. She bit her tongue to keep from snapping at him. "Was it… Deidara?"

"Gross," Suki said involuntarily, before snapping her lips shut again.

"Whoa, okay then, then it was…" He thought for a moment and then he smirked as he was sure he knew the answer. "You're Uchiha's girl," he grinned. Suki didn't even bat an eye. "Ha-Ha! I got it!"

"Congrats… I hope you're happy now," one of the other Sound ninja sighed.

The one that was guessing took some of Suki's hair to smell it. "Very nice," he said. "At least Uchiha had good taste," he said as he dropped her hair and touched her face, earning him a deadly glare from Raven as Suki tried to lean away from his touch. He noticed the look. Releasing Suki, he looked at the other girl seeming to remember she was there. "Can't forget about this one," he said as he moved to stand closer to her. "Let's see, you were with… Hidan," he guess then shook his head. "No, that can't be it. I wanna say… what was his name?" he looked to one his companions.

"Sasori of the Red Sand," they answered.

"Yeah! This one's that guy's girl," he cheered. Raven wished this guy would shut up. He probably had no idea how they won the first battle, by scarifying their allies. She decided this guy will surely meet a horrible end one way or another.

"Of course she's Sasori's, she wearing the red scorpion emblem." The Sound ninja argued for a little while before they approached a cave.

Suki inwardly groaned as they drew closer to the cave. It wasn't the same one she was in before, but that didn't make the situation any better. She swore she would never enter a cave again after this. It was the last straw.

As soon as they entered the darkness, both Raven and Suki unbound their own hands and attacked their captors. There was struggle, the darkness making it difficult for all of them to fight. However, Raven and Suki gained the upper hand and knocked each of them out.

Suki placed her hands on her knees as she breathed for a few seconds. She lacked rest, food, and water since the morning before. She was running low on energy and simply needed a minute before she could keep going.

"Shit," Raven cursed quietly.

"What?" Suki questioned while looking up.

Glaring, Raven reached into her pocket and pulled out a small handful of broken glass dripping with a strange glowing violet liquid. "Shit," she cursed again. "It broke during the fight."

"What is it?" Suki asked as she watched Raven simply drop the glass onto the ground carelessly.

"Deadly poison designed for Orochimaru's DNA," Raven explained before cringing. She leaned back against the wall and lifted she shirt slightly. The poison was entering her skin, leaving behind what simply appeared to be some purple bruising. "Shit," she cursed once again. "I was going to lace a weapon with that poison, but…"

"Are you okay?" Suki asked worried. She wasn't sure what the poison would do to others besides Orochimaru.

"I don't know yet, guess we'll find out," Raven said. "Don't worry about me though, we have something much more important to keep in mind and that is making sure everyone gets out of this alive."

"Minus Orochimaru, Kabuto, and the Sound, right?" Suki offered making Raven smirk and nod.

"Shall we?" Raven said as they looked into the darkness of the cave.

Suki shivered, not wanted to go, but she hardened her will. "Let's get this over with, I wanted them dead yesterday."

"That's what I like to hear," Raven smirked. "But I guess that means we're behind schedule, so what are we waiting for?"

* * *

"Everything is going according to plan," Kabuto smirked in the darkness.

"Excellent work, Kabuto, you're analytical skills have proving to be most useful…" Orochimaru hissed from very close.

"The direct attack on the village will proceed soon, the next army is gathering as we speak."

"Survivors?"

"Probably," Kabuto admitted. "Even if any of them are still alive, they won't be for long and are no longer able to meddle in our plans. There is nothing to worry about."

* * *

Itachi slowly opened his eyes. Someone was calling out his name, but he didn't know who.

"Itachi, open your eyes, it's me!" It was a male voice that sound familiar, but Itachi couldn't make out who it was. He thought it might have been Shisui, but his vision was blurry and stained red.

Itachi blinked several times but his vision was still impaired. Then he felt himself being moved and released a pained sound. His whole body hurt, but his arms and back throbbed the most.

"He's responding now, be careful, he's injured," an authoritative voice said. Was that really his father? What was he doing out here?

Itachi then felt a hand on his shoulder and a face he could almost make out in front of his line of sight. "Brother, say something," Sasuke's voice said calmly.

"Sasuke?" Itachi said quietly. "I can barely… see you."

"It's okay, we thought your Sharingan would be strained," Shisui said. "We're taking you home."

"What about the others?" Itachi questioned, staring blindly through his brother.

"They're all being taken care of, I haven't heard who else is alive yet," Fugaku said.

"Suki?" Itachi asked and didn't like the silence that followed.

"I haven't seen her yet," Shisui said. "I'm sorry, but we won't be able to go look for her yet, I hear there's another battle coming soon…"

Itachi nodded slightly. He understood and had no more energy to speak or even think much. As he felt himself being lifted through the use of a stretcher, he drifted off into unconsciousness again.

* * *

Deidara was looking for his other arm with Tobi as some of their friends were being taken back to the village. His forbidden jutsu in his arms kept him from feeling too much pain when he lost them, but he had been knocked unconscious during the final massive explosion. The next thing he knew, the village ninja were tending to his wounds. Deidara had found that he wasn't the only one sporting serious injuries along with numerous minor injuries.

"Tobi still doesn't see Deidara's other arm, but Tobi did find Hidan's other hand," Tobi said and used the lost hand to wave at the blond armless man.

"Tobi don't do that with Hidan's hand, that's disgusting!" Deidara grumbled. "Damn immortals," he muttered thinking about how Hidan was blown into pieces and was still alive. It was like Humpty-Dumpty and everyone had to put Hidan back together again.

"How's this?" Tobi then used the hand to scratch his back.

"Seriously, stop it or I'll have to kill you myself," Deidara said. "And when we find my other arm, you're not allowed to touch it."

Tobi laughed. "Kill me? How would you do that without any arms?"

Deidara glared and then lunged at Tobi. "I've still got legs!" he shouted and somehow managed to begin to strangle Tobi using just his legs. Tobi begged for mercy and tried to escape, but the blond would have none of that.

Just then Deidara saw something nearby. It was around where he had last seen Sasori. Gulping, Deidara released Tobi and came to a stand to go over to what once served as the Northern Outpost. "Tobi, take that hand back to Hidan," Deidara said as he walked away.

"Kay!" Tobi obeyed and ran back.

As Deidara drew closer he saw the blood stained ground, all coming from behind what was left of a wall. He went around and found Sasori laying there with blood stained clothes and looking worse than before without a leg. Deidara remained very silent and tried to watch and listen for breathing. Without his arms, he couldn't check his teammate for a pulse.

There wasn't any visible breathing so Deidara kneeled down to look a little closer. Sasori's eyes were closed. "Sasori… are you still alive?" he asked, and if he had arms, he would have slapped his own forehead because of how stupid that sounded. Even if he was alive, it wasn't like Sasori could answer at the moment.

Deidara continued to stare at Sasori. When he continued to see no movement, he sighed and stood back up. "Had a good run, my man, at least you get to see your parents again, right?"

"Is that so?" a completely different voice said from nearby. Deidara slowly turned around and saw a handful of ninja, including Sasori's grandmother.

"Chiyo? Why are you here?" Deidara questioned.

"I knew that you boys were up to something all these years, to think you were actually risking your lives," she said calmly. The team began to examine the red-head.

"It's confirmed, the blood loss was fatal, he didn't make it," one medic told them.

Deidara felt his heart sink. Everyone else was alive, except Sasori. Then Deidara felt a hand on his should as another medic got his attention.

"Please come with me, you have to go back to the village with the others for proper treatment and to give a statement," she told him.

"What?" Deidara was confused.

"Your arms can't reattach themselves, and we don't have ability to do it out here," she explained. "As far as the statement, we want to know about you and your friends. The matching jackets suggest you are a part of a group. Whatever you guys are, you're heroes now," she said making Deidara's jaw drop open.

"I… I still need to find my other arm…" he said slowly.

"Not to worry, we'll find it, just come with me," she said and led him again. Deidara looked over his shoulder back at his friend's corpse and raised an eye-brow when he was being healed. He wondered what the point was, unless there was still a chance to save him. Deidara continued to think as he allowed himself to be led away.

* * *

Raven and Suki forcibly pushed through the tunnels, beating information out of a few as they went to make sure they would be going in the right direction. However, the further they went the slower they became due to various circumstances.

"Ray… ven," Suki panted and stopped. "I need a break," she said with her hands on her knees.

Raven stopped as well and leaned against a wall also breathing hard. They didn't expect so many Sound ninja to be around and even though they were able to catch most of them by surprise and therefore had the upper hand, they were running on very little energy.

Suki fanned herself with her hand. "How much longer until we can take them down?" she asked.

Raven shook her head. "I don't know, can't be much longer, so we have to gather all the strength we can now," she said. She looked at her hands which were shaking. The ground was spinning, her head was burning, and she couldn't feel her thirst or hunger anymore. She knew these were bad signs. It was possible her body was beginning to shut down, which meant they would have to hurry if she wanted to end this at all.

"You okay?" Suki asked.

"Not sure, but we should hurry, I have an idea," Raven answered. "Ready?" she asked and Suki nodded. "Okay, let's go," she said and they began walking, bracing their various minor but stinging wounds.

It was a good thing they could handle small dark places. Every once in a while there were lights, just enough to almost dully illuminate the path. Strangely, they didn't encounter any more ninja, which cause them to become even more cautious. They never knew when there might be something around the corner.

The travel felt slow even though they only walked for a few more minutes before they heard a quiet voice. Raven signaled for Suki to stop and lay low as she peaked around into another space. There was a dark hooded figure sitting on the ground facing away from them.

For some reason, pain jolted through Raven and she cringed as she moved away from the dark figure. Talking some steps away, the pain subsided quickly. Raven didn't have to think long before she came to a conclusion. She turned back and glared into the darkness.

"It's him," she whispered.

"Who?" Suki questioned, but Raven motioned for her to remain silent and then cupped her own hear to show that they should listen. Suki nodded and they listened from the darkness.

"Quickly, Kabuto," someone hissed, though there still only appeared to be one person.

"Calibration is almost complete," Kabuto said.

Hearing that name, Raven drew an arrow to shoot. The arrow provided fast, silent, and lethal attacks. It was the same arrow that she was going to combine with Sasori's poison that was now inside her body. Taking the arrow, she slid part of the razor sharp head against her thumb to draw some blood. It was a long shot, but even if the poison from her blood was enough to slow them down, it might prove useful after all.

Suki looked confused at her companion. Then Raven signaled a plan to Suki, who nodded showing she understood. They both turned back to their prey, Kabuto.

"The leaf scum won't know what hit them, you truly thought of everything, Kabuto," the same hissing voice spoke.

"You're too kind, Lord Orochimaru, I exist only to serve," Kabuto said, though he sounded pleased. "Urk!" Kabuto yelped as he got shot in the back with an arrow.

"You didn't think of everything," Raven said, finally breaking the silence.

Kabuto slowly turned around and looked at them. While it was difficult to see how is body was position in the darkness and under his cloak, the arrow at that range should have pierced his body and very likely through his lung. It was a wonder why he didn't seem all that phased by it.

"Well, well, well," Kabuto started calmly. "It seemed I may have underestimated you two a little, good thing you're too late."

"Too late for what?" Suki questioned.

Kabuto smirked, "I'm glad you asked," he said and then stepped to the side, revealing something on the ground behind him. It appeared to be a box. "I will admit it took a great deal of research and spying these last few years to duplicate it myself… the Akatsuki really does have many specialties…" he added cryptically.

"And who's 'specialty' did you recreate?" Raven questioned, drawing another arrow and pointing it Kabuto.

"Oh? Going to shoot me again?" he chuckled. "Not something you have to do often as a sniper. You would think hitting my heart would have been enough," he laughed.

"The next one goes through your skull," she warned and took aim.

"And where is Orochimaru?" Suki demanded with her hands ready to release a jutsu. She had scanned every inch of the room and found no trace of another being.

"Tsk-tsk, my dears, why so demanding and menacing when you're about to die? You should be begging me to spare your lives," he said. "You see, clean up is such a hassle and many of the Sound's followers can't know how many were sacrificed, so the simple solution is to destroy these tunnels and the hills surround them, and it will all be on the Akatsuki's dime."

The girls were able to put the pieces together. "You stole Deidara's clay?" Suki gasped.

"Not quite, more like copied, just the best formula of course, I believe he called it C-4," Kabuto said. "Every detonator is set to release five minutes from now, so if you want a chance of survival, I highly suggest you escape while you can."

"Not without finishing you off," Raven said and released the arrow, aimed between the eyes. However, Kabuto knew it was coming and something made his cloak fly up around him and stop the arrow. In that instance, something else pulsated painfully throughout her body, causing her to drop to knee and drop the bow. "No, the poison," she cursed.

Then Kabuto cringed as well. "What? Something's happening to me!" he cringed as his arm shook uncontrollably and he backed up a couple steps.

"Fool!" Orochimaru's voice roared. "The arrow was poisoned!"

"Suki, quick!" Raven called.

"Right!" Suki darted over to Kabuto and shoved him while he was distracted before putting her hands back together in a hand sign. "Release!" she said as he fell into quickly freezing air that bound him in place and kept him from moving farther.

"I can't move!" he shouted as he was bound in ice and frost.

"Well good thing I can!" Orochimaru's snake-like voice hissed loudly. Both Raven and Suki searched frantically for the source when a large snake leapt out of from the back of Kabuto's cloak and hissed like a serpent as it bared dripping poisonous fangs.

There wasn't enough time to think so Raven reached for another arrow, but before she could even press her thumb to the head's blade to draw some more blood, the snake shot towards her in a blink of an eye and sunk those fangs into her shoulder as it pushed her to the ground and her weapon was sent flying as it flung from her grip. The red garment darkened as it stained with blood.

In only a moment, Suki tried to make another hand sign, but the snake's body slammed into her and pinned her a nearly crushing grip to the cavern wall. The timer on the device behind Kabuto continued to count down as everything else seemed to freeze in time.

"Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto tried to shout in his frozen state. "We have to get out of here!"

The snake spoke easily through the sides of his mouth. "They will not interfere any longer once the poison takes care of them," Orochimaru hissed and cringed, but bit harder.

"Didn't you know," Raven winced. "To beware of creatures with red coloring, they might be poisonous," she then smirked when she saw the snake's eyes grow wide.

"No!" Orochimaru cried as his head shot away from her, but even as his fangs left her skin, her blood and a glowing violet fluid followed him as it attack him. "You poisoned your own blood to get me?"

"Not on purpose, you've got your own goons to blame for that," she said. "The poison itself is courtesy of Sasori, you should remember him."

"Orochimaru!" Kabuto shouted as Orochimaru then thrashed in pain. His grip on Suki released and she fell to the ground where she coughed painfully as she tried to refill her body with air.

"Curse you, Akatsuki!" Orochimaru cried as his scales and skin started melting away, leaving quickly rotting flesh exposed and bones bare. He thrashed and jerked uncontrollably as he was being attack from the inside. "I'll be waiting for you in Hell, Akatsuki!" Orochimaru cried in his dying breath, just before the rest of him crumbled, leaving his audience to stare.

"We were so close! I planned for everything!" Kabuto cried and then winced in pain. "No! I have Orochimaru's cell inside me too!"

"You figure things out fast," Raven said as she slowly stood up. "You'll either end up like him, die by our hand right now, or when this place is destroyed," she explained as she picked up her bow. "Suki?"

Suki stepped beside her and they looked down at him. "Let the poison make him suffer before cave crushes him," she said. "But first…" Suki punched Kabuto in the face, hard, so blood flew from his mouth and his glasses fell. "That wasn't good enough," Suki said and then punched him again, this time the other side of his face.

"We should get out of here," Raven said and began to step away. There was very little time for their escape and she wasn't an explosives expert so there was no way she could count on being able to disarm it.

"One more thing," she added and then gave him a swift kick to the side. Something shiny fell from his cloak and Suki smiled when she saw it. "My ring!" she said and quickly grabbed it, placing it in its rightful place on her finger. "Just to be safe," Suki said as put her hands together in a hand sign. "Release!" she said and froze Kabuto more to ensure he wouldn't be able to escape.

"Okay, run!" Raven called so they could get out of there. They had no way of knowing if they could make it in time. Even at top speed, their chances weren't looking good.

Then they heard and felt a rumble in the distance. Dirt started fall from the ceilings. Another rumble cause them to stumble as that one was much closer. They ran as fast as they could and leapt over the bodies of the Sound ninja they defeated before. The next rumble was much more than just a rumble and boulders started falling around them. It was too late for a clean escape, the exit they came from was too far away, they didn't make it out in time before everything began to collapse around them.

In the distance, the Leaf shinobi already put up a barrier to protect the village and prevent any more threats from approaching. The second wave of the Sound's army was trying to get through. Everyone felt the Earth shake and the slowly brightening morning sky lit up suddenly before darkening again as smoke and debris covered the horizon.

* * *

**Author's Note**

So you're probably wondering why Sasori died. Well, _Sasori is always the first to die_ in the series. Even as zombies, he was the first of the Akatsuki to die _again_.

But wait, a main character died and this story _isn't_ labeled tragedy? Guess that can only mean one thing for the next chapter… any idea how we will avoid tragedy?

If you hadn't noticed, most of the wounds the Akatsuki sustained during the war are the same or similar to the ones they received in the canon either during important battles or when they died. This was done purposefully to try to stay closer to the canon since this is an AU. Since Tobi is just Tobi, not anyone else since it's not about _him_, he is one of the few that didn't end up with major injuries… maybe just (more) brain damage.


	8. Aftermath

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 8: Aftermath

The landscape was destroyed and the village was successfully protected against the Sound's attacks. The second wave of the Sound's army had quickly descended towards the village, but thanks to the information the Akatsuki had gathered by the end of the first wave, the village was able to set up a defense barrier around the outside of the village in preparation. The attacks were relentless and the bombs were able to break through several times. Luckily, they were prepared for that and many teams were ready to defend in battle until the barrier was repaired. The second explosive wave hit them with full force and the barrier had been destroyed, but there were no more Sound ninja left to fight after self-destructing when the Earth began to shake. The mess afterwards was beyond repair and it would be years before the northern lands could be used again. Not sure what might happen next, security remained high in case yet another wave of attackers or even stealth attacks appeared. However, without a leader anymore, anyone that might have survived would have fled.

Everyone that had been injured was taken to the medical center to be healed. Some were in intensive care and needed to be healed only with jutsu, such as Hidan and Deidara since they each had severe damage and needed to be put back together. The rest were like Kisame who had a throat wound that took quite a bit of work to repair, but was left with just an outer wound leftover that was wrapped up to finish out healing on its own otherwise the medics risked over-healing and causing more long-term damage if not given a chance to repair itself. Everyone was scheduled to have daily healing sessions and even with chakra healing, many of them would have a longer rehabilitation time before they could go home.

After everything that happened, it was amazing how few ended up in the morgue, one being Sasori. The medics tried to heal him when they were still on the battlefield. His body had been repaired except for the fact that his left leg from the knee down was completely gone. Despite their greatest efforts, it had been too late to resuscitate, so in the end Chiyo finally called it quits and he was taken to the morgue.

It was still early morning when Sasori's granduncle, Ebizo, heard of what happened and came to pay his respects to his deceased family member. He was surprised to find his sister standing next to Sasori. At first he was confused why there was a silent heart monitor hooked up and then he saw his sister's hands glowing above Sasori's bandaged chest and understood completely.

"Sister, are you sure you want to do this?" Ebizo asked as he came to stand next to Chiyo and looked down at Sasori's lifeless form.

"Never been more sure about anything in my life," Chiyo confirmed.

"You remember the cost of this reincarnation jutsu, don't you?" he asked.

Chiyo just laughed at first before simply smiling. "Of course, but he was so young and I have lived my life." She thought about how living longer than her son was hard enough and she never thought she'd outlive her grandson, so she was determined to change that, even if it meant paying the ultimate price and sacrificing her own life to restore his.

"He's still missing a leg," Ebizo observed.

Chiyo nodded. "Yes, it's gone, but he'll just make a new one like I did with my arm," she chuckled.

"You taught him well," Ebizo said. "I'll miss you sis."

Chiyo smiled sadly. "Oh it won't be long before you see me again you old bag of bones," she laughed and he chuckled with her. "And besides, I've made many mistakes during my long life, don't forget that, so I don't mind giving up the time I have left for him."

They remained in peaceful silence even as the heart monitor bleeped once and then after several long seconds it bleeped once again. When a steady bleeping was heard, there was again only two people breathing.

* * *

Hours later, the narcotics that they had been given began to wear off and everyone woke up in a large recovery room. The curtains were drawn between every bed for privacy while various monitoring devices and IV drips were hooked up to some of them.

Pain had a leg wrapped up and bandages around his ribcage. Konan had her right shoulder wrapped up as well as her forehead. Kakuzu had several bandages all over to cover various cuts and burns. Hidan's entire body was bandaged up in case anything fell off again. He was very difficult to heal since he had to put back together entirely after being blown to bits. However his mouth worked fine, much to the dismay of the poor and now sexually harassed nurses. Zetzu hadn't received as much damage, but a head injury had him in and out of a clear state of mind. Tobi had a large portion of his torso wrapped up as well as his right arm due to various small injuries. Besides his throat wound that would keep him from talking for the next day or two, Kisame had various other bandages as well. Deidara's only injuries were his arms that were reattached and held in slings and few other smaller bandages. Itachi's broken arms were mostly healed and put in casts, his backside gashes were sealed up and bandaged, while his head was wrapped to cover his eyes until the medicine from the Uchiha clan took affect. Last, Sasori had his chest wrapped up, some other bandages, and his dismembered knee was bandaged.

Everyone was content with resting for a while and remained silent and tried to go back to sleep on their own. That is, everyone except for Tobi. He decided to get out of bed and run through the large room and opened every curtain.

"Yay! Tobi can see everyone is alive!" he cheered while everyone groaned and glared at him, besides Itachi who couldn't see, but frowned because of the noise.

"Tobi, go back to bed," Deidara gritted and then looked over to see Sasori. While Tobi hopped happily back into bed, Deidara blinked a few times in surprise at the red-head. He was trying to make sure he was really seeing him and that it wasn't a hallucination from the drugs.

Sasori felt Deidara's intense stare and got uncomfortable. "What?" he finally asked.

"You're… alive?" Deidara asked hesitantly.

Sasori looked down sadly and breathed a deep sigh. "Yeah," he said quietly.

"Yay!" Tobi cheered from his bed.

"Dude, that's awesome! I could've sworn I heard the medics say you were gone, but here you are again, that must've given them quite a shock," Deidara chuckled at the thought.

"The medics were surprised alright," Sasori said quietly.

"You okay, my man?" Deidara asked, taking note of Sasori's depressed aura. He figured the red-head would be glad to have escaped death like that.

However, Sasori chose not to answer the question with everyone watching. Deidara was about to pry when there was commotion in the hallway just outside. They looked towards the door as it opened. They were expecting a nurse to come check on them, so they were surprised to see Shisui Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha enter instead.

"Itachi," Shisui began and Itachi sat up slowly, because he had to be careful since he couldn't use his arms and his back was still healing. There was also the fact that he still couldn't see with the bandages covering his eyes. "It's me, and I brought Sasuke along."

"What are you doing here?" Itachi asked.

"Mom had me bring some medicine for your eyes," Sasuke answered.

Itachi nodded while the others simply eavesdropped. "What was all that noise in the hallway?" Itachi asked.

Shisui hesitated in his answer. "They just found Raven and Suki about an hour ago, they were unconscious and since they just got here they are being now treated properly," he answered. "I was a part of the rescue team and I wanted to let everyone know they are okay and safe."

"What?" Itachi asked confused while Sasori breathed a sigh of relief.

"What happened after we were taken back to the village?" Pain interjected.

"I'll bring a detailed report tomorrow," Shisui said.

"Whoa, back up," Deidara exclaimed. "So if Raven and Suki are back, what about Orochimaru and Kabuto? Are they alive or dead?" he asked and everyone looked at Shisui hoping he would have an answer.

Shisui had a very serious expression and then he grinned. "We recovered and incinerated their remains, or at least what was left of them," he said and they all cheered inwardly, expect for Tobi who started dancing.

"Yay, we did it!" Tobi cheered.

The door opened again and a nurse entered so Tobi quickly jumped back into his bed and whistled innocently. She looked around and then to her clipboard. "Which one of you is Mr. Uchiha?" she asked.

Shisui, Itachi, and Sasuke hesitated. "Can you specify which one?" Shisui asked.

"I have a message for Itachi Uchiha, the fiancé of Suki Yukimura," she specified.

"That's me," Itachi said.

"I have a message stating that Suki is okay, her injuries are minimal, but she will be in recovery overnight," she said.

"Thank you," Itachi said.

The nursed nodded and looked at her clipboard again. "And now a Mr. Akasuna?" she asked.

Sasori raised his hand, "I'm here," he said and the nurse stepped over to him and handed him a piece of paper to avoid speaking aloud.

"This is the report I was asked to show you, they said you might have a solution given your specialties," she explained.

Sasori read it and frowned. The medics were worried about a mysterious and aggressive toxin in Raven's system, and while she appeared to be recovering from her other injuries, the toxin was already showing to have long-term affects on her. Sasori continued to read the report and stopped on a short list of most possible side effects associated that included hallucinations, infection, infertility, and even death. His eyes read that last two multiple times as he felt a wave of guilt. It was his poison that was hurting her and possibly causing these things.

Sasori handed the paper back. "Yes, I can possibly help, but I would need access to a lab and… assistance getting around given my condition," he said.

"I will report that," the nurse nodded and then her eyes landed on the other two Uchiha boys. "I'm sorry, but there isn't supposed to be any visitors in here right now," she said.

Shisui grabbed the younger Uchiha brother and began to pull him out of the room with him. "Yes, of course, we'll be leaving right away," Shisui laughed nervously. "Come on, Sasuke, we've got work to do," he said just before they left and the nurse followed and closed the door again.

Everyone was silent for a while and they began to relax again.

"This was a close one, you know?" Deidara started.

"Too close for comfort," Itachi added, looking blindly in Deidara's direction. "…So who all is in here? I've heard a few voices," he said.

"Everyone from the gang, my man," Deidara answered as Kisame waved and made some gestures with his hands to his throat. "Oh, I think Kisame can't talk right now," Deidara translated.

"Guess we won't be able to communicate for awhile, Kisame," Itachi said and Kisame just grinned and shrugged mutely. Itachi smiled, somehow knowing what Kisame was saying.

"That nurse was kind of cute, too bad you couldn't see her, Itachi," Hidan sniggered.

"Seriously? Isn't it a bit soon for jokes?" Pain gritted.

"Aw come on, we're all alive right?" Hidan whined. "I'm happy and just joking around."

"But it hasn't even been a day," Kakuzu reminded.

"It was a bit inappropriate," Konan scolded. "I'm so asking for a private room to get away from you boys," she rolled her eyes.

"It's okay, guys," Itachi said before a fight could break out. "But I would appreciate some quiet for awhile, it's best if we all rest."

They were all very tired from the medications so they all agreed. It was quiet again for awhile when there was a tapping sound. The tapping sound persisted for several seconds.

"Deidara, I swear if you don't stop that I'm going to pop you," Sasori grumbled.

"It's not me!" Deidara said and looked towards the window to find Tobi climbing out of it. "What there hell are you doing Tobi?"

Tobi was already hanging to the outside of the window when he was caught. "Tobi is going to see Raven and Suki too!" he exclaimed happily just before he slipped and flailed around frantically. Everyone sweat-dropped and cringed as Tobi fell from the window and landed elsewhere.

* * *

The next day found everyone in slightly better condition. Someone from Itachi's family came with more specialized medicine for his eyes. Sasori got a crutch to hobble around on, though he was supposed to get a wheel chair soon once his medic gave the okay for him to leave. They all got new bandages and some were even released from care. The ones that were released had to give reports about what happened.

Everyone in the village was talking about resent events and rumors were everywhere about the mysterious gang or organization that took initiative to stop their rivals and prevented a full scale war. The overall tone was one of praise for the new heroes, but of course there were those that were worried about the power of the Akatsuki and felt there should also be justice for being a vigilante group.

The remaining members of the group that were still in care were simply resting when there was a strange knock at the door. "Didn't the nurse just leave?" Itachi asked and then waited for whoever it was to come in. Instead, they knocked again.

"Come in," Sasori said while looking at the door.

It opened to reveal a couple of very familiar faces. "Hello patients!" Suki cheered when she hopped in. "Nurse Suki and Nurse Raven have come to take care of you!"

"Suki…" Raven blushed as she followed.

"Suki? Is that really you?" Itachi said hopefully as he sat up.

"That's right!" Suki said and sat on the edge of his bed to hug him around the neck. He pulled her close and whispered things to her.

Raven smiled at them as she stepped over to Sasori and they locked eyes. Much to his surprise, she punched him in the arm. "Ow!" he yelped and held the wounded area. "What was that for?"

"That was for making me worry about you," she said coldly. "And here you are, resting the day away," she said.

Sasori smiled at her. He knew she was joking, well mostly joking, she was really worried. "Well I would love to hobble out of here, but the medics won't let me yet," he said as he looked her over. Raven had a couple small bandages on her head and her wrist was wrapped up. "I'm glad you're doing okay," he said quietly as he took her hand. He was thinking about what the toxin in her system could be doing to her.

"Yeah, you too," she said. "I thought we lost you," she admitted.

"Well, there's a lot to tell you later," he admitted and she nodded in understanding as they both looked around the room.

"I got my ring back," Suki told Itachi. He took her hand and felt for it.

"I'm glad," he said.

"I was so scared when we were escaping, we almost didn't make it," Suki said and Itachi tensed.

"What do you mean you almost didn't make it?" Itachi asked sternly.

"Everything was collapsing around us, but we summoned our creatures with the last of our chakra to help just in time," Suki explained. "It took a while for anyone to find us, but once they did, all we really needed was a little bit of healing, food, water, and rest and we were as good as new!"

"That's a relief," Itachi said and pulled her closer against him.

"Ug, get a room over there," Deidara said when Itachi and Suki started making out.

Suki pulled away from her fiancé and blushed. "Sorry," she smiled sheepishly while Itachi pouted. "Here," she said as she closed the curtains around Itachi's bed.

"Gee, thanks," Deidara deadpanned. "So what's up?" he asked while looking at the other couple.

"We got released earlier and we gave our reports," Raven said. "So here we are."

"We heard you were in the second wave, what happened?" Sasori asked.

"We killed Orochimaru and Kabuto, but the bastards already had time bombs made from a C-4 formula stolen from Deidara," Raven explained. Deidara whistled innocently and looked away when everyone glared at him. "Don't worry, it probably took Kabuto years to get all the information he needed," she continued.

"Did the poison I gave you work?" he asked.

"Yes, it saved us," she said. "Thank you."

Sasori saw Raven's distant glace out the window. There was a short silence before Sasori spoke again. "Did any of it get on you?" he asked seriously and didn't like how long it took for her to answer.

"Why?"

"Well, the long-term affects of a poison like that could…" he trailed off when Raven sat next to him and looked at him.

"Don't worry about me for now," she told him. "Most of the poison already left my body when Orochimaru bit me," she pulled up her sleeve to show the marks on her shoulder. "The medics are already working on an antidote for the rest in my system, for now I'm okay," she explained.

"They'll never figure it out in time," he muttered to himself and he made a decision.

They chatted about the events of the battles and what they witnessed before the girls were told to leave by a nurse. Suki promised to be back the next day to give Itachi a sponge bath and feed him while his arms heal the rest of the way. Of course, she was joking, but many of them weren't entirely sure about that.

* * *

The guys were quite shocked when Suki returned the next day in a stolen nurse uniform. Luckily, only a few of the guys were still in care, including Itachi, Sasori, Deidara, and Hidan, who all fell over in surprise when they saw her.

She was just happy to find that Itachi got his bandages taken off and he was able to see again. His vision was slightly strained and he wasn't supposed to use his Sharingan yet, but he could see enough of her and it nearly made him pass out from a nosebleed.

Raven came in behind Suki with a bag over her shoulder and went straight to Sasori. However, Sasori seemed really out of it. "What's with Sasori?" Raven asked Deidara.

"Huh? Oh he's all drugged up because he was caught in the medical lab last night, he said he was going to make some sort of antidote for you because there wasn't a lot of time, then he put up a fight when he was kicked out," he explained. "Long story short, the only way to get him to stop was that, even after they took away his crutch."

Raven noticed that Sasori's crutch was gone. "Guess it's a good thing I went to his house this morning and broke in to get this," she said as she set the bag down.

"Broke in, don't you have a key?" Deidara questioned.

"I broke into the storage in his shop to get his leg," she said as she lifted a completely artificial leg already custom made for Sasori by Sasori. "He has grown a bit in the last few years so it'll probably have to be adjusted a little," she remarked.

"Whoa… what is that?" Sasori said slowly with a very foggy mind. "Hey… Raven's here," he said as he just noticed.

"Wow, he really is drugged up," Raven sighed as she pulled back his covers and sat on the edge of his bed. It was to compare the length of this real leg and to the artificial one, but Sasori had another idea, because he pulled her to his lap.

"I don't feel well, so you'll have to be on top," he said groggily as he hugged her. Raven blushed as the others laughed.

"Geez, someone cover my ears for me," Deidara chuckled.

"Cool it," Raven told her fiancé.

"Why are there so many people in our room?" he wondered aloud as he looked around. "And when did you redecorate… wait, where… I'm hungry…" he mumbled.

"I'll get you something to eat in a minute," Raven said. Sasori laid back and she was able to measure the legs and began adjusting the artificial one. At least his feet hadn't grown. When that was done, he was asleep so she left the leg on the floor for him for when get got his senses back. As a favor to everyone, Raven closed the curtains around all the beds and waited beside Sasori.

Suki had brought Itachi soup and more Uchiha medicine. She pampered him until Raven actually had to pulled her away so they could leave before they got in trouble again.

* * *

That night, the halls were well lit but completely empty except for one person. Sasori connected his new leg with chakra strings which was much harder than he thought it would be. Every step he took hurt. He knew he was going to have to change how the leg connects to his body so it isn't just with chakra. As he walked slowly to his destination, he wished he was wearing pants instead of the stupid hospital robe. Pants might actually help hold his leg in place so he wouldn't have to concentrate on it as much.

He was close to a room clearly labeled as the Toxicology lab, but he had to stop for a minute to rest. The walk was proving to be harder than he thought it would be. He wasn't used to the leg and his body felt stiff and sore from his death. With one hand supporting himself against the wall, he wiped sweat from his forehead with his other hand.

Remembering why he was doing this, he was pushed forward by another wave of guilt and determination. He had never used that poison before and was unable to test it and therefore unable to synthesize an antidote for it. Now the last person he wanted to poison was being affected by it. Sasori hated waiting as it was, so he wasn't going to just sit by until he got 'well enough' to work.

He pushed on the door but it was locked. Of course it was locked. Rooms like this are always locked.

"Tch," Sasori glared and picked the lock with chakra. It clicked open and he easily got inside. Security really does suck around here. Not that he cared right now.

Raven's file was just laying out, a vile with a blood sample was clearly labeled, and a testing scroll was next to that. This made it easy for him, he wouldn't have to find all this to start, but he didn't like how anyone could've done what he just did and got all this. He was going to have to have a talk with security soon. Since his current job wasn't doing to well recently, maybe he'd try to work here instead and make the changes himself.

Putting those thoughts aside, he quickly got to work on an antidote. He tested and failed the first formula when someone else finally came in.

"What are you doing?" the medic questioned.

"I was asked to make an antidote," Sasori answered.

"You're Sasori?"

"…Yes," he said, getting irritated.

"You're not allowed to be in here," they said, which made Sasori whipped around and glare at the medic.

"I dare you to say that again," he said. "Look, you guys were the ones that ask for my assistance, so leave me alone so I can do my job," he warned.

"I am aware of that, but your condition-"

"Is obviously not a problem," he interrupted and easily stepped forward on his false leg to prove it. "Now quit wasting my time," he said and pushed them out of the room with chakra strings while also shutting and relocking the door. Just to give himself some more time, he propped up some furniture against the door so it would be harder to open. Then he got back to work, knowing he would have to work faster.

* * *

Sasori woke up alone in a different room the next day. He found that he was now in a private room and he was strapped down to the bed. His head collapsed back to the pillow as he sighed in defeat. The night before, he had just finished the antidote when a medical team got into the lab and managed to drug him again.

"Stupid idiots," he grumbled.

"Good, you're awake," Raven said and he tensed and looked over to find her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Everyone else has been released from care, and you got moved here because of your behavior, and my doctor called me to give me the antidote you finished," she explained.

"Huh? You got it?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yes, and I'll be tested for results tomorrow, they're confident you got it right, " she said and then took his hand. "You're last healing session took place about an hour ago while you were still unconscious, and I signed you out already. Are you ready to get out here?"

"Well, yeah," he said. "But don't I need to sign myself out?" he asked.

Raven held up one finger in a hushing motion and winked at him. "I signed as Mrs. Akasuna, shh," she said and held up her hand to show the ring on her finger and he smirked. "Just wait here and I'll get them to let you go, tying you down was ridiculous, seriously…" she trailed off as she got up to leave the room. Just before she left she stopped in the doorway. "Oh and tomorrow we have some sort of party or event to go to, we're receiving an award for saving the village," she added before she left.

* * *

"Ahh, it's good to be home," Itachi said as he and Suki stepped into their apartment. "My mom is probably going to come over later," he told Suki as he went to sit down.

"Yeah?" she said as she put her bag away.

"Yeah, my aunt and uncle make the best medicine to nourish Sharingan eyes back to full health, so she's going to get a small supply to last me the rest of my recovery since I have a history of chakra poisoning from overuse," he explained and Suki nodded and was about to sit down next to him when the phone rang so she moved to answer it.

Itachi looked around for the remote to the TV and found it just outside of his reach. Sighing he got up to grab it before sitting back down where he was. He briefly wondered why Suki wasn't working today and realized it was already the weekend based on the report on the TV. He kept watching the local report when he heard his name come up.

"…and tomorrow this heroic organization will be rewarded with metals at a private banquet with the village leaders. The question some have now is if they will continue acting as guardians or if after recent events if they will disband."

Itachi began to wonder about that too. Either way, it won't be public knowledge. After being revealed, it would be hard to do many of the tasks they used to.

"Itachi," Suki said as she sat down next to him. "You're mother called to let us know that she'll be here soon."

"Oh okay," he said. "Did you know about that banquet? I hadn't heard about it yet," Itachi said.

"Yes, actually I was just about to show you this invitation we got this morning," she said and showed that it was already in her hand to give to him.

Itachi read it and chuckled. "Heroes, huh? They keep calling us that," he said.

"You are a hero Itachi, I'm glad you're getting recognized," she told him.

"I wonder what'll happen for us next?" he questioned offhandedly.

"Well, maybe it's time for the next generation to take over for a while," Suki said. "You need a break," she laughed.

"Next generation? Like Sasuke and his friends?"

"Sure," she shrugged.

"A break sounds good though," he said. "Besides, we're going to be pretty busy for a while, we've got a wedding and a life to plan together after all," he smiled at her.

Suki smiled back and snuggled closed. "Yeah," she said.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Phew! Everyone's okay. Got a lot wrapped up here so as a result this chapter feels a little boring, but that might be in comparison to the previous chapters. This chapter was a thousand words over the quota per chapter for this story, but I wanted to make sure I got everything I wanted to in.

Since in this AU the Akatsuki's goal is never the tailed-beasts, Chiyo uses her life to save Sasori instead of Gaara.

So I could end the story here now that the war is over, but that's no fun. So there's going to be at least one more chapter where we get to go back to fluffy silly feel-good content.

Review.


	9. The End of the Akatsuki?

The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 9: The End of the Akatsuki?

It had been months since the Sound's attack on the Akatsuki and the village. Since then, things had returned to normal. Everyone was back to full health and able to return to work. Itachi's eyes recovered almost completely, but he was warned to be even more careful in the future. Sasori put his house up for sale and got a storage unit for his lab equipment and whatever else he wasn't selling while he moved into Raven's place. He also helped his granduncle put his grandmother's house up for sale too. Sasori considered moving into that house himself, but decided not to in the end.

Between work, duties, missions, and yes, even some wedding and life planning, the Akatsuki managed to put together a meeting when everyone was able to attend. As soon as the meeting started, none of them were expecting that one of the members would suddenly quit the organization.

"I'm very sorry," Sasori said as he bowed to his friends after he told them.

"You're… leaving? Why?" Deidara asked. He had no idea Sasori was going to quit the Akatsuki so suddenly. Sasori was one of the first members.

Sasori stood upright and met everyone's gazes. "I have thought a lot about the next step in my life and where I want to go. Like I said, I am leaving the Akatsuki," he said simply. "Before you say anything, I want to make it clear that you are still my friends and this doesn't mean you can't come to me for help, but I need to focus on other things for a while, I hope you understand."

Deidara opened his mouth to start shouting a complaint when Pain spoke first instead. "I understand Sasori," he said, "I trust your judgment and I appreciate your offer of continued cooperation when the time comes that we may need it." He knew that Sasori started a new job, didn't have a private lab at the moment, was getting married, selling two houses, still in rehabilitation, and looking into moving again himself to someplace more suited to his new life. He had a lot going on right now even without the organization. With that in mind, Pain was a little surprised Sasori hadn't quit sooner.

"Tobi is sad, why does Sasori have to go?" Tobi whined.

Much to everyone's surprise, Sasori smiled. "Here," he said and handed Tobi an attractive envelope with a shimmering design. "There's one for each of you," he added and passed them out to everyone even though they had confused expressions. Sasori then smiled at Raven when he returned to her side and wrapped his arm around her waist while the others slowly opened the envelopes.

"This is…" Konan started.

"A wedding invite," Deidara finished.

"Yay! Tobi loves weddings!" Tobi danced. "Tobi will get Sasori and Raven a big gift!" he cheered and then covered his mouth. "Oh, Tobi should've have said that… it won't be a surprise," he said quietly and the others chuckled softly.

"So yeah, our big day is set and official so I'm going be pretty tied up," Sasori said. "The rest should be self-explanatory," he added and everyone nodded in understanding.

"For some reason I'm surprised you're actually getting married first," Deidara remarked.

Sasori shot a short glare at his friend. "I'm not the one with commitment issues, _my man_," he retorted mockingly.

Deidara sighed dramatically and sat down. "I guess everything just got real, you know?" he said. "Everything's starting to change again, un," he added as he remembered when many of his friends graduated while he still had one more year left.

Sasori sighed slightly and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder in reassurance. They had a silent moment before Sasori pulled his hand away and smirked cockily. "You need to get a girlfriend, man," he said and Deidara pouted before showing Sasori his middle finger in a derogatory gesture, though it only caused Sasori to roll his eyes before stepping back to Raven's side.

Deidara didn't miss the slight limp Sasori would do after so many steps and remembered that Sasori was having a hard time rehabilitating, though he had got a lot better. Leaving the Akatsuki was probably best for his friend and he knew he shouldn't complain when he knew that Sasori probably gave it weeks of thought before today.

"What about you, Mister 'wait, let me put on my reading glasses'?" Deidara started while looking at Itachi, who had been in the process of pulling out a pair of glasses to get a better look at the invite. Itachi paused to glare.

"I already told you that they're temporary, stop making me sound old," Itachi grumbled. "And what about me?"

"You going to call it quits now too?" Deidara asked and everyone looked at Itachi with genuine curiosity.

Itachi smirked. "Not yet, there's a couple things I still need to do here," he said. "But I suppose I can give you fair warning that in the next couple years I probably will quit for family reasons," he added, casting a knowing glance towards Suki who blushed slightly in return. Yes, Itachi was already wanting children, but that wasn't the only family he was talking about. He also planned on preparing Sasuke to take his place if he was willing.

"Anyway," Raven started. "Sasori and I really hope you all can attend our wedding, we would very much appreciate it," she said.

"Can count on Tobi!" Tobi danced.

No one was surprised when Raven left with Sasori. She made it clear that her presence in the organization was conditional on his. Even Suki was coming to the meetings less and less and having less to do with the regular operations of the organization. At this point, Suki was only helping if directly requested and only coming to meetings is it was important that everyone be there.

"Hey Raven," Suki stood up. "Wait for me outside," she called and then turned to Itachi. "I'm going to go too, see you all later," she said and also left.

"What's up?" Raven asked when Suki caught up outside.

"We need to compare wedding ideas! It'll be so much fun!" Suki said.

"And I'm out of here, see you later," Sasori said quickly as he turned to cross the street.

"What? Afraid of a little girl-talk?" Raven teased.

"Yes," he said seriously. "Have fun ladies, I have things to do," he waved as he walked away.

Raven shook her head before they continuing walking towards their apartment building. "If you noticed, the date for the wedding is still a ways off, but we wanted all of you to be the first to know about it," she said.

Suki looked at the envelope in her hand and nodded. "Itachi and I haven't set the date yet, but that part is supposed to up to him, because he's trying to coordinate something with his family," Suki explained. "I had no idea the Uchiha clan had so many traditions, no wonder it took his cousin so long to get married."

"You still think you'll end up moving in with the clan?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, but not right away," Suki said before giggling to herself. "After all, newlyweds want some time to themselves for awhile."

Raven laughed too, "Guess that's true, though I'm not sure how nosy his family is."

"I'm not sure either, but Itachi agreed that there's no rush to get a house and make room for our own family until we need to cross that bridge," Suki said.

"Yeah, Sasori basically had the same idea," Raven nodded. "He said he likes my apartment anyway and is no hurry to leave until we have to."

"So wedding stuff," Suki thought what they could do together. "I know! Dress shopping!" Suki cheered.

"Sure, I went a couple weeks ago with Sasori… he just stood around awkwardly and didn't help at all," Raven admitted. "So that trip was an entire waste, I think going with you will be much better."

"Yeah, I tried to get Itachi to look at flowers with me the other day, but he exaggerated how bad his eyesight was to get out it, I might have believed him if he didn't say it while reading a book."

"Men," Raven sighed.

"Wonder if there's anything we can do get them to actually be helpful? I mean even if I have to make the 'girly' decisions, I still want him involved," Suki said. "And I mean besides agreeing with whatever I say…"

"Wait, I have an idea for tomorrow," Raven started with an evil glint. "Make sure Itachi is ready to come with us…"

"Oh I think I know what you're up to," Suki smirked evilly. Together they plotted ways to make their fiancés useful during the shopping.

* * *

The next day, Sasori and Itachi wondered if they were being punished for some reason. They weren't told so, but standing in a boutique outside the women's dressing room while holding their fiancée's purses while being stared at by everyone else made them feel awkward.

"There's just no cool way to hold a purse," Itachi muttered as he switched hands.

Sasori had Raven's bag hanging from his shoulder while he had his hands in his pockets. "Tell me about it."

"Why do we have to be here?" Itachi sighed.

"Hurm… to compliment their choices?" Sasori offered.

"Suki's been getting mad at me for doing that."

"Well we can't insult them or being indecisive either," Sasori said. "Hey, you just want to leave and get something to eat?"

"Won't they get mad if they can't find us when they come out?" Itachi asked.

"There's a pretzel cart right outside," Sasori said and pointed through the window.

"Oh okay," Itachi nodded and they walked off.

As soon as the guys started eating while standing outside, Raven and Suki found them and approached them with angry faces. Itachi and Sasori looked at each wondering what they were supposed to do.

"Want one?" Sasori offered his future wife, who folded her arms over her chest and just looked at him.

"We were only going to be out here for a minute," Itachi smiled sheepishly. When Suki just looked at him and also folded her arms over her chest, he decided to try to follow Sasori's exampled. "Want one?" he tried.

Raven and Suki looked at each other and sighed. At the same time they each held out a hand and simply waited. The guys were confused for a second before they both took their wallets out of their pockets and gave them to their fiancée's. Raven and Suki smiled as they cracked opened the wallets and saw the cash.

"Be right back," the girls said happily and the guys sighed in relief.

Sasori went back to eating his snack when Itachi froze. "What just happened?"

"We didn't get our asses kicked in public by our women, that's what," Sasori said with his mouth full.

"I meant, why did we give them our wallets when we're still holding their purses?" Itachi asked and Sasori froze too.

"Damn… we are so whipped…" Sasori muttered. "Promise not to tell Deidara?"

"If you promise not to tell Kisame or Sasuke... or anyone else for that matter," Itachi added.

"Agreed," Sasori nodded.

Before they could do anything else they heard Hidan laughing at them from nearby. Itachi and Sasori shrank a little as they received a swift, hard kick to their egos. When the girls returned with their own snacks, they could clearly see the dark cloud of self-pity hovering above the guys. Thinking it was their doing, they decided to make the guys feel better and let them know that they're not really mad at them by giving them a kiss, trade the wallets for their purses, and then hold their hands as they walked away.

Itachi and Sasori felt a little better, but then they looked back smugly towards Hidan to find him with the self-pity cloud instead. That lifted their spirits a little.

* * *

Over the next couple years, life had been pretty decent to them. Nothing exciting happened to the village and there were very few disturbances ever since the Sound destroyed themselves. The Akatsuki found themselves with little left to worry about with their main rival completely out of the picture. There were other rivals out there, but as long was they remembered how the Akatsuki won against the Sound, those rivals were going to keep their distance.

Sasori married Raven only three weeks before Itachi married Suki. The Uchiha clan's wedding were very big, but they were able to pull everything together in time. Deidara finally got a girlfriend and was beaming with happiness. He actually found a girl that shared a very similar view of art as him. Kisame moved back to his homeland, though he promised to stay in contact and to come back to visit and help again if the Akatsuki ever needed him. Hidan went on a pilgrimage that was supposed to last at least a few years. Kakuzu left the village to seek out better bounties since criminals with bounties were staying away from the village because of the Akatsuki. Then much to everyone's surprise, Pain and Konan decided they were going to return to their homeland for a while too, because they heard news of a friend they thought they once lost. This meant that the Akatsuki's operations dwindled. Tobi and Zetsu took over as the leaders of the organization, but mostly to keep a look out in case anything happened while everyone else was away. Itachi had offered his brother information about joining the Akatsuki, but to his surprise, Sasuke and his friends were already forming their own group that would protect everyone. Itachi was very proud of this.

When the next big threat did come to the village under the radar, it was actually the next generation that stopped it. The Akatsuki didn't end up needing to help at all. However, even though they had been mentors to the next generation for a long time and knew there was nothing to worry about, they kept a watchful eye over them just in case.

It wasn't much longer before talk of children came up. One day Suki and Itachi announced they had one on the way and that same day Raven and Sasori admitted that they were going to start trying. With their families growing, it was then time to move to new homes. Even though they weren't next door neighbors anymore, Raven and Suki still spent a lot of time visiting which also meant Sasori and Itachi still saw a lot of each other too.

Something they wouldn't find out until about eighteen years later was that their firstborns would become a couple. When Itachi's son, Hiroshi, and Sasori's daughter, Risa, started dating, Sasori warned Itachi that his son would not be spared from full punishment if he ever hurt or knocked-up Risa. Hiroshi and Risa were a bit more like if Itachi and Raven got together instead due to their personalities, not that anyone would notice that.

Itachi and Suki didn't stop at one child though, and they had two more. They had a second boy named Kenshin who had brown hair instead of either black or blond and he worshiped his Uncle Sasuke. Then they had a daughter named Yoshiko that was the spitting image of her mother, including in abilities so she didn't inherit the Sharingan like her brothers did. That was okay though, because her brothers were very protective of her.

After Risa, Sasori and Raven only had one more child, a son they named Sora. Even though Risa was more like her mother in personality, she looked more like her father because she got his red hair and his eye shape, though she had her mother's blue eye color. Sora started out with a dirty blond hair color when he was little, but actually ended up with a light brown hair color as he got older, and he got his mother's eye shape with his father's eye color. His personality was actually a bit more outgoing than either of his parents, but other than that he was a lot like his father.

Of course, that was all in the future and they still had the future to look forward to when the announcement of the first child was made. They knew it wouldn't be perfect, things would happen and there would be more bumps in the road, but after everything else, they knew they'd be able to work through it.

"This is exciting," Suki started as she sat with her husband and their neighbors. "You have to tell me the moment you find out you're pregnant too, Raven."

"W-why?" Raven asked with a slight blush.

"Because if it's soon, our kids will be in the same year in school," Suki said. "And then they could be best friends just like us."

"Suki, don't pressure them," Itachi chuckled.

"I was just saying," Suki rolled her eyes.

"How did your mom react when she heard?" Sasori asked Itachi.

"I haven't told her yet," he said.

"What? Were we the first ones you told?" Sasori asked surprised.

"Yeah, well paper covers rock," Itachi said and gave a sidelong glace towards his wife who was smiling smugly.

"Got it," Sasori said. "By the way, did you hear Deidara's news?" Sasori asked.

"Yeah, he's pretty excited," Itachi nodded.

"What?" Suki asked.

"Deidara proposed to his girlfriend and she said yes," Itachi explained.

"Really? That's great for him, but I think I should offer her a lot of luck," Suki laughed and the others did too.

"And a head examination," Itachi added. "Really though, good for him," he said.

"Things have changed quite a bit around here," Sasori said. "I mean, even Deidara is getting married and the Akatsuki isn't really needed anymore," he added.

"Yeah…" Itachi nodded. "It's just about the end of the Akatsuki, it was a good run though."

"Yeah," Sasori sighed.

Then Itachi had a thought. "Raven, do you still plan on going on missions or do you know if you'd stay home after you have kids?"

Raven was a little surprised by this sudden question. "We've discussed it and I'd still do missions, they only keep me away for short periods at a time."

"So that would put Sasori in charge of care, wouldn't it?" Itachi smirked.

"What are you getting at, Itachi?" Sasori asked knowing where this was leading.

"So you'll be a Mr. Mom right?" Itachi chuckled.

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Well I won't be leaving the village much and my lab can go anywhere with me, even home, so yeah, you can call it that if you want," he said and then folded his arms over his chest. He was completely secure with himself and the title.

"Oh you'll be a great mom, Sasori," Raven laughed while patting his knee, which caused Sasori to deflate a little.

"Yeah, yeah," Sasori sighed as they laughed at him. "Just do us all a favor and don't be a dick like your dad was for a long time," he told Itachi.

"Psh, like I would let that happen," Itachi said. "I already made Suki, Shisui, and my brother promise to warn me if I start going down that road."

"Don't worry, Itachi," Suki smiled at him. "You are a great big brother, so I think you'll be a great parent too."

"I hope so," Itachi said while scratching the back of his head. He looked at the time and began to stand up. "Well, we should get going, we've got to head to my parents house to tell them they're going to be grandparents," he chuckled.

"Alright, see you guys later," Sasori waved.

"Until next time," Itachi beckoned.

* * *

**Author's Note**

The End.

This is the last of this two-part series. I hope you enjoyed the ride and thank you for reading.

_Reviews are welcome. Even if it's been years after posting this story, review if you're just finding it._

There is promotional art on my deviantArt, the link is on my profile since Fanfiction doesn't allow linking within chapters at this time.

**Author's Reflection:**

The KSUH series had been interesting to write. It was really hard actually. There was a lot going on in my life with college and jobs, but hey, I got it done and I don't think it's half bad-not great either, but not bad. One of the main challenges of this story was the large cast of characters. There was the entire Akatsuki, Raven and Suki, the bad guys, and the families to keep track of. To do that well is a skill and I think I could've done it better, but I did learn a lot from this series. Another challenge was having two unique couples, meaning ItachiXSuki and SasoriXRaven. I liked them to hit the relationship-mile-stones around the same time, but they had to be in different ways, because they are each very different people. I think I did alright on that part.


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